A Theo... — Harold Bloom - The Anxiety Of Influence.

Bloom argues that "great" writing is born from a writer's fear that they have nothing original to say. This creates a "Freudian" struggle between the (the established master) and the Ephebe (the new poet).

Total originality is a myth; all poems are "inter-poems" written in response to others. Harold Bloom - The Anxiety of Influence. A Theo...

A movement of self-discipline where the poet diminishes both themselves and the precursor to reach a lonely state of "solitude." Bloom argues that "great" writing is born from

Writing is a competitive struggle for imaginative survival. Harold Bloom - The Anxiety of Influence. A Theo...

The more history progresses, the harder it becomes for new writers to be "great." 🔍 Examples in Literature

The poet "completes" the precursor’s work, suggesting the original didn't go far enough.