Anatomies of Influence, Anxieties of Criticism: Northrop Frye & Harold Bloom

Abstract

This study considers Bloom's The Anxiety of Influence and his own "anxiety of influence"; accordingly, Bloom's work will be considered in the shadow cast by Frye. This question will...be mapped out and established through a series of letters and close readings of Bloom's work. Arising out of this analysis is another, and perhaps more profound, question about the nature of the anxiety of having influenced; as such, this study moves to consider Frye's reaction to the influence he had upon Bloom.