tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post6841501407366459155..comments2024-03-04T11:22:53.502-05:00Comments on Fifty Books Project 2023: How to Read and Why by Harold BloomFifty Books Projecthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08640286429668778869noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post-78203924449095032992010-07-11T00:29:50.500-04:002010-07-11T00:29:50.500-04:00It isn't. He says that friendships are too fe...It isn't. He says that friendships are too few, and the ones we have tend to be imperfect. Literature alleviates some of that--it isn't the same thing as saying that books are better than friends.Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12500451355263180972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post-8575062514128957682010-07-09T20:00:24.090-04:002010-07-09T20:00:24.090-04:00But why should reading a book be less of an approx...But why should reading a book be less of an approximation than a friendship (according to Bloom)?G.R.R. Fotleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00523186470305715350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post-28442652315874576282010-07-09T12:55:55.204-04:002010-07-09T12:55:55.204-04:00But it is something you do alone--friendships are ...But it is something you do alone--friendships are only an approximation of a connection. You simply can't be a part of "the other"--that's why it's "the other."<br /><br />Bloom's point is that literature connects us to otherness. Of course, it too is an approximation, but an equally important one.Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12500451355263180972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post-65159605238755621242010-07-09T11:08:15.583-04:002010-07-09T11:08:15.583-04:00or maybe it's just because i'm a Liverpool...or maybe it's just because i'm a Liverpool fan and therefore will never walk alone...billyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00349770176721652737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post-50565271470582821422010-07-09T10:45:33.385-04:002010-07-09T10:45:33.385-04:00i disagree, especially if you mean lonely in a neg...i disagree, especially if you mean lonely in a negative way (which i'm not sure that you do, but i stand by my points either way). i think that we're not trapped in ourselves if we share ourselves with others. i share my time, my thoughts, my experiences, etc, with my family and my friends, and as a result they are in my life and i am in theirs. bloom says that friendship is vulnerable and likely to diminish or disappear, but (i hope) he is referring to individual friendships, not friendship as a continuous influence in our lives. when i was in high school, i had a group of people in my life and was not alone. in college, most of those people drifted out of my life, but others drifted in. while i anticipate more of those people being in my life for longer, some have already left it. but then again, more new people entered my life when i got to law school, and (i hope) i'll add more people to my life as it goes on. <br /><br />i guess i just don't agree that to be a human being is something you do alone. i suppose you CAN do it alone if you want, but i don't think i do. i rely on others, others rely on me, i spend time with others, i share parts of myself with others, and in those ways i feel they participate in my life. as a result, even if there is no one else in the room with me, i'm never alone. <br /><br />i am reminded of the scene in good will hunting when robin williams asks matt damon if he has a soul mate. the dialogue goes:<br /><br />Sean: Do you have a soul mate?<br />Will: Define that.<br />Sean: Someone you can relate to, someone who opens things up for you.<br />Will: Sure, I got plenty.<br />Sean: Well, name them.<br />Will: Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Frost, O'Conner...<br />Sean: Well that's great. They're all dead.<br />Will: Not to me, they're not.<br />Sean: You can't have a lot of dialogue with them.<br />Will: Not without a heater and some serious smelling salts. <br /><br />i don't know how familiar you are with this movie (and if you aren't you need to become more familiar with it, because it's great), but despite the fact that will immerses himself in every book he can get a hold of and sean is still haunted by the memory of his dead wife, i think that will is more alone than sean. sean also cuts himself off from the world, but that memory alone is enough to keep him from being completely lonely. and will's loneliness isn't static, either; when he finally learns how to open up and let skylar in (we are led to believe) he is no longer alone. <br /><br />sorry for writing an essay, i just think i disagree. maybe i've used the word alone and lonely interchangeably and i shouldn't have, but either way, i don't think i'm eitherbillyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00349770176721652737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post-84428703884147983052010-07-09T00:28:55.605-04:002010-07-09T00:28:55.605-04:00I mean that people are, generally speaking, lonely...I mean that people are, generally speaking, lonely. There is no way to step out of one's own skin, and even when we have friends and loved ones we are essentially alone, trapped in ourselves. To be a human being is to be lonely, because it's something that you do alone.<br /><br />It is undiscussed because I think that it's a fundamental truth, but not something that we talk about--because we are only dimly aware of it, or because we don't know how to put it into words, or because we're slightly ashamed of it. What do you think?Christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12500451355263180972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-934096967055481899.post-2128528070127761792010-07-08T17:23:39.244-04:002010-07-08T17:23:39.244-04:00what do you mean when you say loneliness is the un...what do you mean when you say loneliness is the undiscussed companion of the human condition?billyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00349770176721652737noreply@blogger.com