A spirit intimate and alien …

… The Daemon in Mr. Bloom: Harold Bloom's Sparkling New Tour of American Lit – Tablet Magazine. (Hat tip, Rus Bowden.)

We need more of Bloom’s daemonic eagerness. Skepticism, not passion, rules the day in many classrooms. The academy all too often produces criticism that lacks personal vision and directness, an injustice to both readers and books. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the American religion that exalts God in the lone self too frequently offers passionate vision untempered by sufficient critical skill. Making great art out of vision means testing and criticizing, not merely yielding to Dionysus. Bloom pursues the superior visions, the ones that depend on thought rather than raw instinct, and that’s why we cherish his writing.