Today's Topics:
Re: Never seek to tell your love
A newcomer
Blake at MLA
Re: Your chance to help a Linnell!
Re: Your chance to help a Linnell!
never seek,etc.
Blake citing
Re: A newcomer
Re: A newcomer
Re: Blake at MLA/the state of Blake studies
Re: Blake at MLA/the state of Blake studies
Major Blake Sighting, San Francisco
Re: Major Blake Sighting, San Francisco
Re: Blake at MLA
Re: Blake at MLA
Re: Blake at MLA -Reply
Re: Blake at MLA
A big thank you
Re: Blake at MLA
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 14:51:03 -0600
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Never seek to tell your love
Message-Id: <97011014510349@wc.stephens.edu>
YOu will find that the first stanza of the poem, as it appears in
the notebook, has been crossed out, though editors restore it.
The earlier reading of the opening line was "Never seek to tell thy
love," with the word "pain" written in later above "seek"--so there
are two versions of that line. The final line in the earlier
reading is "He took her with a sigh", crossed out and "O was no
deny" written in place of it. I would not agree that the substitute
line does not mean anything--the speaker is (perhaps) consoling
him/herself that the loved one was not "taken" voluntarily or
as a result of provocation, but could not adequately resist.
The two versions, both of the opening and the closing lines, provide
two entirely different poetic dramas, the speaker coming to and
finally perceiving the sequence of events in entirely different
ways.
You might consider this poem in conjunction with the drama of
Theotormon/Bromion and Oothoon in _Visions of the Daughters of
Albion_.
(This poem is a special favorite of mine--I even wrote a rude
parody of it=="Never seek to smell thy love, As bathward she
is wending, etc." which I will surely not inflict on anyone.
Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 22:56:04 -0800
From: Francis MOUGENEZ
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: A newcomer
Message-Id: <32D73984.4740@hol.fr>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hi everybody !
I'm a french student; I read english in order to become a teacher. Blake
is one of the authors I have to study for my exam. The precise subject is
: The Songs of Innocence, The Songs of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven
and Hell and The Book of Urizen. Those four unities must be studied with
the notion of "Sublime" in mind.
I must confess that I don't really know where to begin; would you be so
kind as to give me some advice ? Any links you would recommend me ? I've
already read all the poems, examined carefully all the plates; I found
them very interesting but there are so many themes that it is quite
difficult to understand what it is all about.
Sorry for my being so ignorant !
Thank you,
Virginie.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 15:57:22 -0600
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake at MLA
Message-Id: <97011015572296@wc.stephens.edu>
I have been meaning to comment to the list about the rather slim
pickings for Blakeans at the MLA convention this past December.
I suspect there were many buried allusions and probably some
papers whose titles did not reveal significant reference to
Blake, but if my scan of the Program is any indication, there
were only four papers that referred prominently to Blake in
their titles, and one, though very worthy, was about the
Blake Archive Project (a great treasure among treasures), so
not a strictly literary project. I know that there have been
whole sessions on Blake at other conferences, so it is certainly
not the case that Blake lacks scholarly attention, but I wonder
if we are in some sort of lull in Blake studies (perhaps I should
say that I suspect we are, and not just because some go nattering
on about some conspiracy of "experts" to quell the inspiredional
musings). Perhaps the publication of the Princeton volumes has
provided a moment of pause in preparation for a new surge of
interest; perhaps also, the suggestions on this list of the
possibilities of online scholarship leading even to new kinds
of "editions" of Blake may indicate surges to come. Any comments
on the present state (or possible future) of Blake scholarship?
(I can predict at least one.)
Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 16:04:10 -0800
From: reillys@ix.netcom.com (susan p. reilly)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Your chance to help a Linnell!
Message-Id: <199701110004.QAA21425@dfw-ix5.ix.netcom.com>
Tim,
The following publications have to do with John Linnell, life and/or
works:
*Blake, Palmer, Linnell, & CO: The Life of John Linnell* by David
Linnell. Sussex: 1994
*John Linnell: Truth and Nature* by Katherine Crouan. London: 1982
*Life of John Linnell* by Alfred Story. London: 1892
The Bentley book you ask after is available in paperback from the
Huntington Library & Art Gallery, and the ISBN is 0873280806.
There are lots of exhibition catalogs in print from the Royal Academy
and elsewhere, too numerous to list here, but if you are interested I
can direct you.
S. Reilly
You wrote:
>
>Hello all,
>
>This is of only somewhat tangential relevance to Blake, for which
>I apologise, but hopefully it shouldn't take much bandwidth.
>
>I'm currently chasing some references to my ancestor, John Linnell,
>and there are a couple of works which someone on the list might be
>able to help with details of. Ideally, I'm looking for an ISBN, but
>any information, e.g. publisher, price, etc, would be of interest.
>
>The books are:
>
> 1) Firestone, Evan Richard. John Linnell, English artist :
> works, patrons, and dealers / by Evan Richard Firestone. 1993
>
>This appears to be a US published book (or is possibly not even
>a book at all). I also have a reference to it as a PhD thesis
>(University of Wisconsin, 1971)
>
> 2) Essays on the Blake Followers / by Gerald E. Bentley, Jr. ...
> [et al.]. 1983
>
>Any information on these, or indeed other essays or information
>on John Linnell that anyone has come across would be of great interest
>to me.
>
>My email address is timli@controls.eurotherm.co.uk, and answers
>would be best directed to me, rather than clogging up the list
>unnecessarily.
>
>Best wishes and thanks in advance
>
>Tim Linnell
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 18:20:36 -0600
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Your chance to help a Linnell!
Message-Id: <97011018203652@wc.stephens.edu>
_Essays on the Blake Followers_ is a collection published in connection
with an exhibition at the Huntington in 1982; it included essays by
Bentley, Robert N. Essick, Shelley Bennett, Morton D. Paley, and a
preface by Robert Wark. (San Marino, Cal., 1983; $8.00)
I am sorry not to know about the other book on Linnell.
Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 10 Jan 1997 21:54:28 -0800
From: Hugh Walthall
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: never seek,etc.
Message-Id: <32D72B14.50C4@erols.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
The poem is a notebook poem -an intense unfinished mad song- a form in
which Blake is supreme. It may be unfinished because unfinishable.
To Mr. Hilton's excellent note I would add only that some aspects of the
voice in the poem remind me of Orlando in Orlando Furioso who, Paladin
of France, is spurned by the beautiful queen of Cathay, whom he
subsequently discovers in the arms of a muslim footsoldier--- it drives
him crazy! Blake knew Ariosto, I wager.
The greatest of all mad songs is the anonymous Tom o' Bedlam (Oxford
Anthology of Eng.Lit.vol.1,pg.1100). Which Blake also probably knew.
Hugh Walthall hugwal@erols.com (the artist formerly known as wahu)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 97 00:21:38 CST
From: Lance Massey
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake citing
Message-Id: <9701110632.AA23602@uu6.psi.com>
I know you won't be able to retrieve this reference--it is from a daytime talk
show--but I thought some might get a kick (or a sour stomach) out of Rosie O'Do
nnel's recent attention to Blake. It appears that Madonna (R's guest on the sh
ow earlier this week) had a New Year's Eve party and, at midnight, asked all o
f her guests to read one of Blake's "Proverbs." Of course, everyone thought th
ey were a real bummer; Rosie disobeyed (civilly) by reciting "Green Eggs and Ha
m." I guess Blake isn't ready for prime time, but I'm happy to know that Madon
na was willing to expose her guests to the ideas of (her words) "the famous Iri
sh poet." Quoth Madonna: "Don't cry for me." Oh, but I insist.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 03:59:32 -0500 (EST)
From: RONROONY@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: A newcomer
Message-Id: <970111035931_1309493357@emout05.mail.aol.com>
If I needed the quickest possible study to blake Id pick up the Blake
Dictionary by Damon
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 06:37:02 -0800
From: reillys@ix.netcom.com (susan p. reilly)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: A newcomer
Message-Id: <199701111437.GAA29068@dfw-ix6.ix.netcom.com>
Virginie, (Do you dissemble? Your user name is Francis.)
Alors, --In principio-
Je t'applaud. Blake is challenging enough to those of us for whom
English is the first language.
There is a Blake concordance by the eminent Blake scholar David Erdman
(Cornell, 1967) which should help you with allusions and with
contextualing the poems. I should think it would be invaluable for the
purposes you describe.
_Blake's Poetry & Design,_ eds. Johnson & Grant (Norton, 1979) provides helpful
glosses, headnotes, and good introductions for the student of Blake, and was
designed, I think, to aid with the type of exercise which you describe. I might
start with the Johnson & Grant and use the concordance along with the readings.
There are various Blake websites and others on the list may better direct you
to those links; but you really should see The Blake Archive for luminous,
incredibly beautiful e-reproductions of the prints and engravings. While other
electronic and textual reproductions look opaque and lifeless, the images here
have the brilliancy of stained-glass in sunlight. The URL is
http://jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU/blake/
A la prochaine: bon chance.
S. Reilly
You wrote:
>
>Hi everybody !
>
>I'm a french student; I read english in order to become a teacher. Blake
>is one of the authors I have to study for my exam. The precise subject is
>: The Songs of Innocence, The Songs of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven
>and Hell and The Book of Urizen. Those four unities must be studied with
>the notion of "Sublime" in mind.
>I must confess that I don't really know where to begin; would you be so
>kind as to give me some advice ? Any links you would recommend me ? I've
>already read all the poems, examined carefully all the plates; I found
>them very interesting but there are so many themes that it is quite
>difficult to understand what it is all about.
>
>Sorry for my being so ignorant !
>Thank you,
>
>Virginie.
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 08:55:45 -0800
From: reillys@ix.netcom.com (susan p. reilly)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake at MLA/the state of Blake studies
Message-Id: <199701111655.IAA05876@dfw-ix6.ix.netcom.com>
Dear Tom,
I don't know that I fully agree with your suspicion that Blake scholarship is
in a period of decline.
I was a research assistant on a recently published survey of publications on
nineteenth century literature (written by Judith Wilt, SEL 35:4, Autumn,
1995). Jeanne Moskul's _Blake Ethics, and Forgiveness_ appeared that year, as
did the _The Life of John Linnell_, recently discussed on this list. Volume 2
of The illustrated Books, _ Songs of Innocence and of Experience_ appeared
from the Blake Trust. This accords with the number of publications on Shelley
and Byron--Byron had less, if I rightly recall. Wordsworth received the most
scholarly attention, I believe, and Coleridge may have garnered slightly more
than Blake. I'd have to check the lists again, but that's about right, at least
in terms of books.
For 1997 so far we have Rainford's _Authorship, Ethics, and the Reader_ from
St. Martin's.
At NASSR there were papers on prophetic cognition in Blake and Coleridge, on
"Blake, Reynolds, and the Aesthetics of Race," "William Blake Represents the
Other," "Blake's Deep Ecology," Blake's "Classical Forms and Romantic Cities,
Blake's Pope, and Blake's Milton.
This is, of course, just a rough list which is incomplete and does not even
address journal publications.
S. Reilly
You wrote:
>
>I have been meaning to comment to the list about the rather slim
>pickings for Blakeans at the MLA convention this past December.
>I suspect there were many buried allusions and probably some
>papers whose titles did not reveal significant reference to
>Blake, but if my scan of the Program is any indication, there
>were only four papers that referred prominently to Blake in
>their titles, and one, though very worthy, was about the
>Blake Archive Project (a great treasure among treasures), so
>not a strictly literary project. I know that there have been
>whole sessions on Blake at other conferences, so it is certainly
>not the case that Blake lacks scholarly attention, but I wonder
>if we are in some sort of lull in Blake studies (perhaps I should
>say that I suspect we are, and not just because some go nattering
>on about some conspiracy of "experts" to quell the inspiredional
>musings). Perhaps the publication of the Princeton volumes has
>provided a moment of pause in preparation for a new surge of
>interest; perhaps also, the suggestions on this list of the
>possibilities of online scholarship leading even to new kinds
>of "editions" of Blake may indicate surges to come. Any comments
>on the present state (or possible future) of Blake scholarship?
>(I can predict at least one.)
>Tom Dillingham
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 11 Jan 1997 13:33:21 -0600
From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake at MLA/the state of Blake studies
Message-Id: <97011113332173@wc.stephens.edu>
Thanks to Susan Reilly for the corrective comments, but I really
did not say "decline"--I said "lull" in the context of acknowledgment
of the publication of the final volumes of the Princeton set. I
might as well say that I am perfectly aware that numbers of
presentations at the MLA convention or any other cannot be an
adequate measure of the activity (and certainly not of the quality
of activity) in relation to any particular author. I could go into
more detail about the "lull" is suspect, but was hoping for just
the kind of comment received. Tom Dillingham
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 16:56:34 -0500 (EST)
From: TomD3456@aol.com
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Major Blake Sighting, San Francisco
Message-Id: <970112165632_1924725710@emout14.mail.aol.com>
I suspect any Blakeans in the San Francisco area will be interested in the
following announcement in today's S.F. Chronicle:
"20/20 Blake: The poems and paintings of William Blake's 'The Marriage of
Heaven and Hell' come to the stage in a music theater piece with a score by
Adlai Alenxander and Todd Rundgren and projected 'Blake-scapes' by John Rock.
George Coates directs the production, which premiered in Brazil. Previews
begin Wednesday. Opens Friday. Through February 1. At George Coates
Performance Works, 110 McAllister St., SF. (415) 392-4400."
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 1997 15:12:33 -0800
From: Steve Perry
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Major Blake Sighting, San Francisco
Message-Id: <32D96FE1.64EF@infogenics.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Tom thanks for the tip. For some additional information visit this
address:
http://www.georgecoates.org/
TomD3456@aol.com wrote:
>
> I suspect any Blakeans in the San Francisco area will be interested in the
> following announcement in today's S.F. Chronicle:
> "20/20 Blake: The poems and paintings of William Blake's 'The Marriage of
> Heaven and Hell' come to the stage in a music theater piece with a score by
> Adlai Alenxander and Todd Rundgren and projected 'Blake-scapes' by John Rock.
> George Coates directs the production, which premiered in Brazil. Previews
> begin Wednesday. Opens Friday. Through February 1. At George Coates
> Performance Works, 110 McAllister St., SF. (415) 392-4400."
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 11:38:58 -0800 (PST)
From: Marcus Rudolf Brownell
To: blake@albion.com
Cc: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake at MLA
Message-Id:
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Hi everybody, Marcus here.
I'm concerned about the state of Blake scholarship because I've just
started graduate school and am trying to orientate myself within the
context of the field. I don't want to discredit Blake scholarship,
but since I've been admitted to the higher rungs of acadamia I've noticed
a general sense of urgency and need for selfjustification in the entire
field. "After Theory from Textuality to Attunement." _College English_
58.8 (December 1996), 893-913, by Kurt Spellmeyer is an essay that
addresses the isolationist tendencies of highly specialized theory. Any
responses to me personally without cluttering the list about this essay
would be interesting to me.
I'd like to address the question about Blake scholarship in
light of my perception of verbal and/or visual scholarship in general.
I am interested in prophecy as a genre and its my feeling that
recognizing this literary (and artistic) form more widely would open up a
more accessible area of studies that might make it beyond the pendantic
moat of acadamia. I am very interested in the mention made by Susan
Reilly about seeing studies of the prophetic cognition of Coleridge and
Blake. Blake was concerned about being accessible when he claims with
pride that his works have been much enjoyed by children. The
Songs of Innocence and Experience are a good entry point for the further
complexities of his thought as it comes up in the Lambeth prophecies and
The Four Zoas.
At the moment, I don't see much of a future for me if I
say that my specialty is prophecy as a genre. This could change of
course as things tend to in the academy. Any thoughts or questions for
me? I'm sure I look forward to input from other Blake enthusiasts as I
know I still have a lot of thinking to do about what prophecy is and why
it should be more of a concern. Should prophecy be a center of
attention at some point, I'm sure Blake scholarship would enjoy active
participation in the University. (Though the preface to _Milton_ makes
me wary about enjoying a priveleged status in an institution such as the
University.)
Thanks for your time,
Marcus
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 14:37:55 -0800
From: reillys@ix.netcom.com (susan p. reilly)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake at MLA
Message-Id: <199701132237.OAA05842@dfw-ix8.ix.netcom.com>
Marcus,
If you want to know more about the paper on Coleridge, Blake, and prohecy, all
NASSR papers were scheduled to go on-line at the Romantic Circles website (or
at least those papers delivered on panels whose moderators know how to mark up
texts for electronic transmission). The citation is _Retroactivating the Past:
Prophetic Cognition in Blake and Coleridge,_ by Thomas Pfau, Duke University.
RC is bookmarked in my web browser as
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/english/journal/wordsworth/related.html
Obviously I bookmarked this site when touring round about at some other site.
There's a more succinct address somewhere, but this one should get you there.
Other publications you might find interesting are Joseph Wittreich's _Visionary
Poetics: Milton's Tradition and His Legacy_, which opens with a consideration
of the recovery of prophecy by Spenser and Milton. Also of interest are his
_Romantics on Milton_ and Milton and the Line of Vision._ If you begin
inscribing your circle of inquiry here I think it may bring you around to many
interesting places which have to do with the Romantics and with Blake in
relation to Old Testament prophecy, and with Blake's interpretation and use of
Scriptural typology.
Give yourself time on the theorytech and perceived isolationism in English
studies. You will discover that no one claims to have cornered the market on
theory (to have THE definitive slant on matters theoretical). Each school of
criticism is only one way of looking at a text, not THE way. There is lots of
room for discussion and debate, as well as the kind of good old-fashioned
scholarship which you describe.
S. Reilly
You wrote:
>
>Hi everybody, Marcus here.
>
>I'm concerned about the state of Blake scholarship because I've just
>started graduate school and am trying to orientate myself within the
>context of the field. I don't want to discredit Blake scholarship,
>but since I've been admitted to the higher rungs of acadamia I've noticed
>a general sense of urgency and need for selfjustification in the entire
>field. "After Theory from Textuality to Attunement." _College English_
>58.8 (December 1996), 893-913, by Kurt Spellmeyer is an essay that
>addresses the isolationist tendencies of highly specialized theory. Any
>responses to me personally without cluttering the list about this essay
>would be interesting to me.
>
>I'd like to address the question about Blake scholarship in
>light of my perception of verbal and/or visual scholarship in general.
>
>I am interested in prophecy as a genre and its my feeling that
>recognizing this literary (and artistic) form more widely would open up a
>more accessible area of studies that might make it beyond the pendantic
>moat of acadamia. I am very interested in the mention made by Susan
>Reilly about seeing studies of the prophetic cognition of Coleridge and
>Blake. Blake was concerned about being accessible when he claims with
>pride that his works have been much enjoyed by children. The
>Songs of Innocence and Experience are a good entry point for the further
>complexities of his thought as it comes up in the Lambeth prophecies and
>The Four Zoas.
>
>At the moment, I don't see much of a future for me if I
>say that my specialty is prophecy as a genre. This could change of
>course as things tend to in the academy. Any thoughts or questions for
>me? I'm sure I look forward to input from other Blake enthusiasts as I
>know I still have a lot of thinking to do about what prophecy is and why
>it should be more of a concern. Should prophecy be a center of
>attention at some point, I'm sure Blake scholarship would enjoy active
>participation in the University. (Though the preface to _Milton_ makes
>me wary about enjoying a priveleged status in an institution such as the
>University.)
>
>Thanks for your time,
>
>Marcus
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 20:37:36 -0600
From: Mark Trevor Smith
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake at MLA -Reply
Message-Id:
I'm afraid that you have fallen victim to two Urizenic impositions, as you
lament in the message appended below. Shake them off and fly with
your own wings. First, why try to prophecy (in the limited sense of the
term) the future? Let the future take care of itself. Remember that
Urizen in FZ achieves wisdom when he casts off futurity. Second, why
care if prophecy, your chosen specialization, takes center stage in the
university? Many of us make a happy living pursuing byways that will
never be featured on the Rosie O'Donnell show. Who was the Nobel
prize winner a few years ago, a Bible translator who complained that
fame had interrupted his work in a very disturbing way? Third, I can
think of no better field of interest than prophecy. What a glorious time
you have chosen for yourself!
>>> Marcus Rudolf Brownell
01/13/97 01:38pm >>>
At the moment, I don't see much of a future for me if I say that my
specialty is prophecy as a genre. This could change of course as
things tend to in the academy. Any thoughts or questions for me? I'm
sure I look forward to input from other Blake enthusiasts as I know I still
have a lot of thinking to do about what prophecy is and why it should be
more of a concern. Should prophecy be a center of attention at some
point, I'm sure Blake scholarship would enjoy active participation in the
University. (Though the preface to _Milton_ makes me wary about
enjoying a priveleged status in an institution such as the University.)
Thanks for your time,
Marcus
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 12:21:25 -0600 (CST)
From: "DR. JOSIE MCQUAIL"
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake at MLA
Message-Id: <01IE7B647QEA8WX65Z@tntech.edu>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
I did attend the MLA in Washingon, D.C, and must add that there was a paper
on Blake that I noticed in the program, given by John Jones of Jacksonville
STate U., under the panel "Literary Properties: Production." His paper was
entitled The Books of Urizen: Blake's Bookmaking Process, Print Culture and
the Text as Performance."
There were a several critics known for work on Blake that read papers at the
conference: Tilottama Rajan and Alicia Ostriker, as well as Joseph Viscomi
who, as someone already pointed out, spoke on the Blake Archive (I would be
interested in reading what was said on this subject if you are reading,
Prof. Viscomi!)
I think someone needs to organize a Blake panel or even a Blake Society for
MLA! There is one in existence for NEMLA. Who will take up the challenge?
Alas, it is already too late for next year, but plan ahead. (Although there
is sometimes a second call for panels for the MLA).
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 21:25:10 -0800
From: Francis MOUGENEZ
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: A big thank you
Message-Id: <32DC6A36.4833@hol.fr>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hello everybody,
I'd really like to thank all of you who took time to help me beginning
with my study of Blake. The bibliographical selection you gave me will be
very useful; a special, thank you to those who took into account my
particular needs, i.e theme of my exam : sublimity.
I will continue to try to follow and understand your conversations on the
net; I don't think my comments on Blake's works could be interesting for
the advanced blakeans you all are.So I'll just read and enjoy your wise
comments.
Thank You again,
Virginie.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 13:47:41 -0800
From: reillys@ix.netcom.com (susan p. reilly)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake at MLA
Message-Id: <199701142147.NAA05038@dfw-ix6.ix.netcom.com>
Dear Josie,
I was thinking further over the state of Blake scholarship over the weekend, and it
occurred to me that if there were more venues such as you describe, we might well be
seeing more material coming forth on Blake and other "big six" Romantics.
Wordsworth has his summer conference, a 2-week extravaganza in the Lake District
which generates a lot of paper and much discussion. I have attended and presented a
paper at that conference and I know it's where a alot of scholarship is born,
(especially on Wordsworth because of proximity of the Dove Cottage archive) and
certainly where scholarship is refined for publication. Coleridge likewise has his
summer conference--what do we have with respect to Blake that is comparable? A
regular Blake conference in the UK or North America would be, I think, a welcome
addition to the conference roster, and would generate many publications devoted to
the poet and his work. I think the kind of panel you suggest is excellent. I hope
professing Blakeans will unite around this fine idea.
I attended, as I've stated on this list before, Joseph Viscomi's presentation at
NASSR on The Blake Archive. His may be one of the papers you will find on-line at
Romantic Circles. He discussed at some length the processes of scanning engravings
and prints into the Archive and the preparation of the plates. He talked a bit
about the editorial principles by which the project has been guided and demonstrated
the enlarging and "ensmalling" capabilities which will be available at the Archive
website.
S. Reilly
You wrote:
>
>I did attend the MLA in Washingon, D.C, and must add that there was a paper
>on Blake that I noticed in the program, given by John Jones of Jacksonville
>STate U., under the panel "Literary Properties: Production." His paper was
>entitled The Books of Urizen: Blake's Bookmaking Process, Print Culture and
>the Text as Performance."
>
>There were a several critics known for work on Blake that read papers at the
>conference: Tilottama Rajan and Alicia Ostriker, as well as Joseph Viscomi
>who, as someone already pointed out, spoke on the Blake Archive (I would be
>interested in reading what was said on this subject if you are reading,
>Prof. Viscomi!)
>
>I think someone needs to organize a Blake panel or even a Blake Society for
>MLA! There is one in existence for NEMLA. Who will take up the challenge?
>
>Alas, it is already too late for next year, but plan ahead. (Although there
>is sometimes a second call for panels for the MLA).
>
>
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End of blake-d Digest V1997 Issue #2
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