A Study Of Harold Bloom 's Aesthetic Education

Only when we seize the meaning of "Aesthetic autonomy”, can we accurately understand Bloom’s judgment of literary canon. Influenced by Gosticism, Nietzsche’s theories of voluntarism, psychoanalytic theory and romanticism, Bloom regard “lioness”, “death”, “distress” as the ultimate question of life, and also, bloom think that everyone has his own inner self, so the cognition and creation of the inner self is the right solution to the ultimate question of life. The literary canon is not only the production of the inner self creation, but also the method of human beings to be immortal and the external show of inner self. Nietzsche considers that the happiness of life existing in the process of “surpassing- destroying-surpassing again”, Bloom regard the literary canon creation as the reflection of that process and think that literary owns the strangeness of inner self.Bloom’s view on aesthetic education exists in his literature classic view and has the homoorganicity with his aesthetic view which characterized as "aesthetic autonomy". Being familiar with Schiller’s conception of aesthetic education, Bloom pays attention to human being’s existent situations and mental statement. He expects to realize the transcendence of life and achieve “freedom” through the approach of “aesthetic”, “emotion” and “self”. But Bloom regards the ultimate meaning of aesthetic education as to cultivation, repair, and remodeling the “self” with strong vitality, which is diffident with Schiller’s opinion that the goal of cultivating ideal citizens is to resolve political problems within German society. Bloom want to improve the situation that literary cannon are explained by “moral theory” 、“social theory”、“value theory” excessively, to resolve the decline of literature reading and to influence the selection of literature cannon. In the sense of contemplating human being’s inner self and emotion, Bloom’s conception of aesthetic education has deepandvast humanistic care.In order to achieve the purpose of aesthetic education, the way of experience reading literary classics listed by Bloom is the most effective way he thinks. Experiencing reading focus on the state of reading and the accessible to inner self, which is the feasible path to enrich the life of ordinary reader.