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/lit/ - Literature

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4038497 No.4038497 [Reply] [Original]

Are anthologies like Harold Bloom's "The Western Canon" useful resources for people trying to self-educate themselves? If not, what are the superior alternatives?

>> No.4038513

>>4038497
If you're trying to self educate, why are you going to reading, first?

that book isnt designed to teach you; not designed to do much at all

>youtube
>Yale Open Courses
>Free liberal arts

your welcome

>> No.4038531

>>4038497
http://www.listmuse.com/100-best-history-books-time.php

>> No.4038562

Bump.

>> No.4038565

>>4038497
That's a good book OP but it would exactly give you details on the writer's goals and ideas, mostly just explaining why the western canon is necessary and why certain figures are centers of it.

>> No.4038577

>>4038497
>Are anthologies like Harold Bloom's "The Western Canon" useful resources for people trying to self-educate themselves?

they might end up giving you the impression that there's more of a structure to culture than there really is. just know that whatever you read in books like that isn't the final word on what's important.

>> No.4038608

http://www.saylor.org/

>> No.4038613

>>4038608
Holy shit. Thank you. How have I never seen this before?

>> No.4038629

https://www.coursera.org/

>> No.4038644

>>4038629
Also good. Love Coursera. Currently taking Intro to Mathematical Philosophy. The class on modernism and postmodernism was fantastic.

>> No.4038678

>>4038644
what do you think of it? I tuned in the first week but since I had encountered all the stuff they planned to talk about in other courses before (pardoxes, logic, etc) I decided not to continue

>> No.4038692

>>4038678
It's alright. Not fantastic, but if nothing else it puts me in the mood for philosophy so that afterwards I can read Aristotle without wanting to shoot myself.

>> No.4038884

>>4038497
The Teaching Company

>> No.4039579

>>4038497
Bloom is alright. His book Genius is his best anthology. Mainly because he covers so many writers and he doesn't spend that long on each of them, but just long enough to give you a taste/motivate you to read them.

The Western Canon is him explaining a dozen or so authors through his lens of influence anxiety.

Reading Bloom makes you better at talking about authors you've never read.

>> No.4039611
File: 242 KB, 1500x1000, Apparition_still_Harold_Bloom.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4039611

>>4038497
Why is Bloom such an ugly mother?

>> No.4039641
File: 377 KB, 543x583, lauren is judging you.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4039641

>>4038497
>self-educate themselves

>> No.4040280

>>4038884
Nice! Also check The Modern Scholar