636
PARTISAN REVIEW
gence. Thi s makes many criti ca l widows wince. Bloom means
to
make
them wince. He intends to be o utrageous and he is. Bl oom is a
provoca teur. H e is empl oy ing a kind of
palacrilicism
to move literary
commentary , especiall y academi c literary commenta ry, out of the
realm of systema tic "concept-thinking" into tha t o f contin gency and
the progressive qua li fi ca tion of rela ti vism . Th ere is no such thing as
truth . But if there is no such thing as truth , perhaps there is no such
thing as th eory.
In
fact, Bloom 's purpose is to return criti cism from
sys tema tic theory to practical criti cism . And yet, hi s own theo reti ca l
system is p ervasive and heavy handed and constantl y gets in the way of
h is practical criticism. And ye t, if h is theory is consistent it sho ul d
evolve in the directi on of self-des truction , theory prov idin g an escape
from theory. And yet, Bloom does no t mean to be consistent. And yet,
and yet, and yet. Which is the po int.
As a result of these contradi ction s, wha t we are left with in thi s
book is frequentl y apt theory and frequentl y inept Steven s exp li ca ti on .
When you read Bloom reading Stevens's poems you get Bl oom .
If
you
want Bloom it's fin e; if you want Stevens it's no t so good . Wh en a
poem h appens to connect with one of Bloom 's abiding concern s the
reading is often brill iant, as when he find s an opportunity to establi sh
Stevens firm ly in the context of American romanti cism .
If
a poem does
no t happen to rela te to o ne o f those concern s, Bloom mi sreads it. Or he
loses interest. Fina ll y, his reading of Stevens ma kes one wonder whi ch
side, in th e battle o f phi losoph y aga in st poetry, Bloom is rea ll y on.
RONALD SUKENICK
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
THE LIFE OF BERTRAND RUSSELL.
By
Ronald W. Clark. Alfred A.
Kn opf. $17.50.
Wha tever crit icisms may be brought aga in st Mr. Clark's life
o f Bertrand Russe ll for its lack of taste o r d iscernment , he has
unqu estion abl y perfo rmed a service in assemblin g a gTea t man y facts
about Russ ell and weaving them into a readable na lTa ti ve. T he story
fo ll ows the li nes la id down by Ru ssell himse lf in hi s auto biographi cal
