The Anxiety of Influence

The Anxiety of Influence is a theory of literary criticism put forth by Harold Bloom that begins with the proposition that artists, especially poets, create primarily by misreading the art of the past, especially work from The Canon. The theory goes that these artists are often unnerved by that influence, and hence are eager to demonstrate their rejection of that influence by various techniques of deliberate misreading or rejection. Eventually, though, an art based on detailed knowledge of prior work and the studied distancing of the current work from its precursors is bound to paint itself into a corner.

The theory may have relatively little bearing on art produced before the twentieth century, when artists were not as eager to distance their own work from past masterpieces. It is most convincing in its explanation of the avant-garde treadmill that seems to have operated during the twentieth century, where it seemed much more important to be among the founding exponens of a new and up-coming movement than to do competent work in an already established genre.