--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: What is literary tradition? What is a…" description: "\"What is literary tradition? What is a classic? What is a canonical view of tradition? How are canons of accepted classics formed,and how are they unfor..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf7/harold-bloom-3350_accepted_what-is-literary-tradition-what-is-a-cla_1429449.jpg" --- # What is literary tradition? What is a classic? What is a… ![“What is literary tradition? What is a classic? What is a canonical view of tradition? How are canons of accepted classics formed,and how are they unformed? I think that all these quite traditional questions can take one simplistic but still dialectical question as their summing up: do we choose…” quote by Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf7/harold-bloom-3350_accepted_what-is-literary-tradition-what-is-a-cla_1429449.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf7/harold-bloom-3350_accepted_what-is-literary-tradition-what-is-a-cla_1429449.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cf7/harold-bloom-3350_accepted_what-is-literary-tradition-what-is-a-cla_1429449.jpg) > “What is literary tradition? What is a classic? What is a canonical view of tradition? How are canons of accepted classics formed,and how are they unformed? I think that all these quite traditional questions can take one simplistic but still dialectical question as their summing up: do we choose tradition or does it choose us, and why is it necessary that a choosing take place, or a being chosen? What happens if one tries to write, or to teach, or to think, or even to read without the sense of a tradition? Why, nothing at all happens, just nothing.” [Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote questions how tradition shapes literature and whether we choose it or it chooses us, emphasizing the necessity of a tradition for meaning. **In simple terms:** Tradition gives meaning; without it, nothing happens. Key Takeaway Recognize and engage with literary tradition. Themes literature tradition canon identity choice Mood reflective inquisitive Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - teaching literature - writing - critical analysis - reading - curriculum design Key Concepts cultural hegemony dialectic authority construction Questions to Reflect On - What role does tradition play in your creative work? - How can we reshape the canon? A Different Perspective Tradition can also exclude marginalized voices. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Accepted](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/accepted/) [Canon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/canon/) [Choose Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choose-tradition-5085255/) [Chosen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chosen/) [Classic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classic/) [Classic Canonical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/classic-canonical-5085256/) [Culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/culture/) [Doe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/doe/) [Happens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happens/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Literary Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/literary-tradition-405517/) [Stills](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stills/) [Summing up](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/summing-up/) [Teach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teach/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Tradition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition/) [Tradition Canons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tradition-canons-5085253/) [Traditional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traditional/) [Traditional Questions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/traditional-questions-5085254/) [Trying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/trying/) [Views](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/views/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [Know your literary tradition, savor it, steal from it, but when you sit down to write, forget about worshiping greatness and fetishizing masterpieces.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/allegra-goodman/know-your-literary-tradition-savor-it-steal-from-it-but-when-you-sit/) [Allegra Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/allegra-goodman/) > [In fact I don't think of literature, or music, or any art form as having a nationality. Where you're born is simply an accident…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-ruiz-zafon/in-fact-i-don-t-think-of-literature-or-music-or-any-art-form-as/) [Carlos Ruiz Zafon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-ruiz-zafon/) > [As an American writer, the literary tradition that I draw on the most is the Anglo-American one, and when you are writing in this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-liu/as-an-american-writer-the-literary-tradition-that-i-draw-on-the-most/) [Ken Liu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-liu/) > [I do not come out of a literary tradition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-flanagan/i-do-not-come-out-of-a-literary-tradition/) [Richard Flanagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-flanagan/) > [“The authors we classified as villains, detractors, and bad role models for our children are part of the educational curriculum. 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But that's O.K. I am working in the African-American literary tradition.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colson-whitehead/anytime-an-african-american-writes-an-unconventional-novel-the-writer/) [Colson Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colson-whitehead/) > [Something is missing in our culture. We can't quite celebrate the scientific literary tradition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/something-is-missing-in-our-culture-we-can-t-quite-celebrate-the/) [Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/) > [Does people not asking me about Asian American literature mean they don't see it as its own literary tradition? I certainly believe in it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hanya-yanagihara/does-people-not-asking-me-about-asian-american-literature-mean-they/) [Hanya Yanagihara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hanya-yanagihara/) > [“that there was no great literary tradition; there was only the tradition of the eventful death of every literary tradition…. "Then”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/that-there-was-no-great-literary-tradition-there-was-only-the/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [I think that a lot of things are hard to read if you're not in the vocabulary flow of that particular discourse. I sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/helen-vendler/i-think-that-a-lot-of-things-are-hard-to-read-if-you-re-not-in-the/) [Helen Vendler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/helen-vendler/) > [We have a great literary tradition in Australia. 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They tell one why it matters to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/in-the-finest-critics-one-hears-the-full-cry-of-the-human-they-tell/) [Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/) > [The idea of Herman Melville in a writing class is always distressing to me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/the-idea-of-herman-melville-in-a-writing-class-is-always-distressing/) [Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/) > [If I were to sum up the negative reactions to my work, I think there are two primary causes: one is that if there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-bloom/if-i-were-to-sum-up-the-negative-reactions-to-my-work-i-think-there/) [Harold Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-bloom/) > [Aesthetic value emanates from the struggle between texts: in the reader, in language, in the classroom, in arguments within a society. 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