The gnosticism of Harold Bloom — or, What Does the Daemon Know?
“From the idea that the self is not given to us, I think there is only one practical consequence: we have to create ourselves as a work of art.”
I’ve known about Harold Bloom since I first read The American Religion (1992, 2013) in 2015, but about two months ago I discovered for the first time what may be called (despite Bloom’s own wishes) the spiritual successor to that previous book: Omens of Millennium: The Gnosis of Angels, Dreams, and Resurrection (1997). In reading Omens, I was captivated afresh with a topic that I had known about since I was a teenager, but which Bloom himself seemed to capture and articulate in ways I never could: namely, the ancient spiritual traditions collectively known as Gnosticism. Instantly intrigued, I devoured Omens, reread American Religion, and set out for more books by Bloom (I’ve attached a list of suggested reading to the end of this post, in fact).
I was driven to read so much of his work in so short a time for two reasons: the first was, as I said, that Bloom’s take on Gnostic thought fascinated me; and secondly, I couldn’t help but notice how opaque and obtuse his writing on Gnosticism often seemed. As much as I’ve come to adore Bloom’s work, and perhaps this simply reflects poorly on me, I found it immensely difficult to…
