While Bloom is appreciated for his originality, range and clarity, less notice has been taken of the remarkable unity that is displayed in his writings from the earlier studies on Shelley, Blake and Romanticism, up to A Map of Misreading. That unity is brilliantly highlighted in Kabbalah and Criticism. Providing a study of the Kabbalah itself, its great commentators, the 'revisionary ratios' they employed and of its significance as a model for contemporary criticism, Kabbalah and Criticism is an indispensable book for all students of literature as well as for all those who are fascinated by this singularly rich body of mystical writings.

Table of Contents

Prologue: That, too, I must have known; Kabbalah; Kabbalah and Criticism; The Necessity of Misreading; Epilogue: The Name Spoken Over the Water. Introduction; 1. Does the Testament of Abraham Belong to a Genre?; 2. Humour in the Testament of Abraham; 3. Characterization of Abraham; 4. Characterization of Michael; 5. Death in the Testament of Abraham; 6. The Plot of the Testament of Abraham; 7. Comparison of the Greek Manuscripts; 8. Conclusion; Appendix 1: The 54 Narrative Units of the Testament of Abraham; Appendix 2: Citations of the Three Manuscript Families; Bibliography.

About the Author

Harold Bloom (b. 1930) is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, Berg Professor at New York University, and a former Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Anxiety of Influence; Deconstruction and Criticism; The Western Canon; Shakespeare: The invention of the Human; and Where Shall Wisdom Be Found?