Podcast: Allan Bloom and the Conservative Closet

Allan Bloom in 1987 when he was on top of the world. (Photo by Louis MONIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

As an experiment, I’m using my podcast as a monologue to talk about something I’ve been wrestling with for many years: why was the philosopher Allan Bloom so committed to the closet? As I argue, staying in the closet wasn’t just a personal choice for Bloom but also an outgrowth of his politics, his pedagogy and even his philosophy. This is a story not just of one man’s handling of his personal life but also how political conservatism allied itself with the closet during the rise of LGBTQ rights.

Some show notes:

1. The Know Your Enemy podcast on Bloom (highly recommended! even essential!) can be found here.

2. I quote from at length from The Closing of the American Mind (1987). Here is the quote:

   

3. I also quoted from Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet (1990). Here’s the quote:

   

This episode is very much an experiment. Let me know if it works! I very much welcome comments.

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