Which is that book? Does it exist?

October 1, 2009 11:43 AM

[H.Bloomfilter]: A friend's friend told him about a book of Harold Bloom on Don DeLillo, Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon, and Cormac McCarthy and said friend wants it. His friend can't remember the title. Does it exist and what's its name?

Googling nets me results along the lines of wikipedia's Of American novelists, he declared in 2003 that "there are four living American novelists I know of who are still at work and who deserve our praise". He claimed that "they write the Style of our Age, each has composed canonical works," and he identified them as Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy and Don DeLillo., but I can't seem to find any mention of a book on these four. I recall parts of The Western Canon being relevant, but that's obviously not the book my friend is looking for.

Friend's friend claims the book was published in 2003.

Friend's friends are always reliable sources.

posted by ersatz to writing & language (9 comments total)

I forgot to note that I have only found selective bibliographies of Bloom and have browsed through a few pages of Amazon's search results.
posted by ersatz at 11:46 AM on October 1

The wikipedia entry mentions it, though not explicitly: the book is Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds.

Bloom also mentioned them as modern exemplars in The Western Canon back in 2003.
posted by holgate at 11:50 AM on October 1

Actually, I'm a liar: it's Novelists and Novels that he's after.
posted by holgate at 11:55 AM on October 1

If memory serves, Bloom also mentioned those four in that NYT thing where he slagged Stephen King after they gave him a National Book Award.
posted by box at 11:58 AM on October 1

Yeah, that's the article, box. He mentions that they're the four living novelists who warrant praise. He also mentions some fantasy writer as being awesome but I don't remember who.
posted by Damn That Television at 12:21 PM on October 1

The article was in The Boston Globe:

Today there are four living American novelists I know of who are still at work and who deserve our praise. Thomas Pynchon is still writing. My friend Philip Roth, who will now share this "distinguished contribution" award with Stephen King, is a great comedian and would no doubt find something funny to say about it. There's Cormac McCarthy, whose novel "Blood Meridian" is worthy of Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," and Don DeLillo, whose "Underworld" is a great book.

My god, Harold Bloom is an odious windbag.
posted by Kattullus at 12:30 PM on October 1 [2 favorites]

"Yeah, that's the article, box. He mentions that they're the four living novelists who warrant praise. He also mentions some fantasy writer as being awesome but I don't remember who."

John Crowley!
posted by moiraine at 12:45 PM on October 1

Bloom also wrote the introduction to the Everyman's Library edition of Blood Meridian and had some extremely thoughtful & salutary things to say about Cormac McCarthy there as well.
posted by felix betachat at 12:51 PM on October 1

Thanks, holgate and co! The description of Novels and Novelists didn't include a full list of the novelists, so Mefi saves the day.

It also turns out I'd read that article back in 2003, Katullus. IMO Harold Bloom is at his best when talking about the books he loves, as it shows and usually makes me want to pick up a book or another.
posted by ersatz at 1:06 PM on October 1