"The Western Canon, The Books and School of the Ages," by Harold Bloom. 578 pages. Harcourt Brace & Co. $29.95
Published last year, but evergreen. The perfect mind-saving antidote to deconstructionists and other evanescent faddists who are instantly identifiable by their chant: " Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Western culture"s got to go!" (No fooling.) Bloom is detested and reviled by tenured radical chic and cheek, but this volume adds substantial weight to the case that he may be the greatest living critic working in the English language.