Research Catalog

Title

Cleopatra : I am fire and air / Harold Bloom.

Author

Bloom, Harold

Publication

• New York : Scribner, [2017]
• ©2017

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 138 pages; 22 cm

Summary

"From Harold Bloom, one of the greatest Shakespeare scholars of our time, comes an intimate, wise, deeply compelling portrait of Cleopatra--one of the Bard's most riveting and memorable female characters. Cleopatra is one of the most famous women in history--and thanks to Shakespeare, one of the most intriguing personalities in literature. She is lover of Marc Antony, defender of Egypt, and, perhaps most enduringly, a champion of life. Cleopatra is supremely vexing, tragic, and complex. She has fascinated readers and audiences for centuries and has been played by the greatest actresses of their time, from Elizabeth Taylor to Vivien Leigh to Janet Suzman to Judi Dench. Award-winning writer and beloved professor Harold Bloom writes about Cleopatra with wisdom, joy, exuberance, and compassion. He also explores his own personal relationship to the character: Just as we encounter one Anna Karenina or Jay Gatsby when we are in high school and college and another when we are adults, Bloom explains his shifting understanding of Cleopatra over the course of his own lifetime. The book becomes an extraordinarily moving argument for literature as a path to and a measure of our own humanity. Bloom is mesmerizing in the classroom, wrestling with the often tragic choices Shakespeare's characters make. With Cleopatra, he delivers exhilarating clarity and invites us to look at this character as a flawed human who might be living in our world. The result is an invaluable resource from our greatest literary critic." -- Publisher's description.

Series Statement

• Shakespeare's personalities
• Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare's personalities.

Subjects

• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
• Literature
• Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare, William)
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 > Antony and Cleopatra
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 > Characters
• Characters and characteristics
• Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, -30 B.C > In literature

Contents

To cool a gipsy's lust -- No single thing abides but all things flow -- O'erflows the measure -- Oh, my oblivion is a very Antony -- Antony and Octavia: a sacrifice to Roman power -- I that do bring the news made not the match -- In the east my pleasure lies -- You will be whipped -- The god Hercules withdraws -- This foul Egyptian hath betrayed me -- I am dying, Egypt, dying -- The round world / should have shook lions into civil streets -- He words me, girls, he words me -- Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness -- I wish you all joy of the worm -- I am fire and air.

Call Number

JFD 17-6180

ISBN

• 9781501164163
• 1501164163

LCCN

2017289450

OCLC

1028581658

Author

Bloom, Harold, author.

Title

Cleopatra : I am fire and air / Harold Bloom.

Publisher

New York : Scribner, [2017]

Copyright Date

©2017

Edition

First Scribner hardcover edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Shakespeare's personalities

Bloom, Harold. Shakespeare's personalities.

Research Call Number

JFD 17-6180