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BC Holmes ([personal profile] bcholmes) wrote2004-01-30 10:10 pm

A to Zoa

Can someone suggest a good, basic introduction to William Blake, especially the four Zoas?

[identity profile] nellorat.livejournal.com 2004-01-30 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, one of my favorites--though keep in mind that I haven't researched Blake since 1979 . (Wow. Am I that old?) Anyway, Stanley Gardner's Blake, in the Arco Literary Critiques series, is a good, short, general place to start. Also, the commentary by Geoffrey Keynes in his Complete Blake is very helpful. You certainly should read Northrup Frye's Fearful Symmetry, though I find Frye himself obscure at times. S. Foster Damon's A Blake Dictionary is a good companion to Blake's prophetic books, though I think he over-systematizes. If you don't want to do an MLA search but want some articles, try Blake's Sublime Allegory ed. by Stuart Curran & Joseph Anthony Wittreich, Jr.; all are about The Four Zoas, Milton, and/or Jerusalem. Harold Bloom on Blake is also good, The Visionary Company and Blake's Apocalypse. A great coffee-table book of Blake's art, with good text, came out in conjunction with the Blake show at the Met--the only show I've gone there for since we moved here!
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Re:

[identity profile] bcholmes.livejournal.com 2004-01-31 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow. Thanks for the book list!