Today's Topics:
Re: _MT_ nature as female
M. T. first stanza
Re: Electronic Jerusalem & copyrights
Re: M. T. first stanza
Re: _MT_ first stanza
Re: M. T. first stanza
Re: M. T. first stanza
Blakesex and the Internet of Vala
hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Re: Blakesex and the Internet of Vala
RE: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Re: _MT_ Stanza 2
RE: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Re: Blakesex and the Internet of Vala
Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 20:02:13
From: Izak Bouwer
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: _MT_ nature as female
Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980309200213.5bef36b2@igs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
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At 11:21 AM 3/9/98 +0200, Pam van Schaik wrote:
>>Blakes personification of the Spirit as a male, and Nature (or sleep=20
>>of Spirit) as female,=20
>I'm not sure that one can equate the Sleep as female.
Hi Pam: The >> part above is a partial quote from a posting of mine.=20
A fuller quote is:
>>It may be noted that Blake does not see the two principles of Nature an=
d=20
>>Spirit as equal but opposing forces. The Spirit is the autonomous
principle,=20
>>and Nature is but the =93Sleep=94 of the Spirit, =93which the Soul may =
fall into=20
>>in its deadly dreams of Good and Evil when it leaves Paradise=94 (_VLJ_=
E553)
>>. . . Blake=92s personification of the Spirit as a male, and Nature (or
sleep of=20
>>Spirit) as female, and their relative manifestations - in a traversal o=
f
the=20
>>cycle of possible states - as a dynamic interplay of male and female
activities,=20
>>are what transform his =91philosophy=92 into a work of poetry
I have used =93sleep of Spirit=94 as a careless shorthand for the Sleep o=
f the
Soul
when the Spirit is no longer dominant in Man. It is Nature, or the Natur=
al=20
Principle in Man, that is represented by the female in _MT_.
My point was that, in Kathleen Raine=92s words: =93There is only one ag=
ent.=94 =20
In _MHH_ , in the =93Devil=92s=94 voice, Blake states as an error the not=
ion =93That=20
Man has two real existing principles Viz: a Body & a Soul,=94 and that, =
on the=20
contrary, =93that calld Body is a portion of Soul discernd by the five
Senses.=94 =20
The use of the =93female=94 as a metaphor for Nature is of course
well-entrenched in the folk tongue e.g. as =93Mother Nature.=94=20
In _VLJ_, the =93Vegetable Life & Death with its Lusts=94 is represented=
=20
by the =91Harlot=92 named =91Mystery=92, who is burned up =91with fire=92=
in an =91Eternal=20
Consummation=92. This process of being burned up, in my reading of _MT_,=
=20
corresponds to the Female=92s diminishing and disappearing into the fire =
in
the hearth (from which she re-emerges). One notes the use of the=20
word =93solid=94 to describe her new form.
If the =91rape=92 of the female by the male represents the Apocalypse,
then it of course results in a radical change in Man=92s vision:
it has become a Spiritual vision, and will stay like that until the Fall
(when the senses contract in that the =91Garden=92 fades from the old
man=92s sight, and =91the flat Earth becomes a Ball=92).=20
It is interesting that Blake relates the subsequent dominance=20
of Nature also to the actions of Jesus. Crabb Robinson reports:
=93And this day he spoke of the Old Testament as if it were the=20
Evil Element. =91Christ, he said, took much after his Mother &=20
in so far he was one of the worst of men.=92 On my asking him=20
for an instance, he referred to his turning the money changers=20
out of the temple -- he had no right to do that.=94 Here, the=20
=91Mother=92 of Christ is related to the conditions of the=20
Natural order. I assume Blake meant that Christ should concern=20
himself solely with his =91Father=92s business=92 (cf _The Everlasting=20
Gospel_). His question to his mother: What have I to do with thee?=20
reverberates in _To Tirzah_ =20
Izak
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 21:04:31 EST
From: Andrewkauf
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: M. T. first stanza
Message-Id: <6cead447.35049fb1@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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The point made last week comparing or identifying the speaker of "The
Mental Traveller" with the Bard of Experience is quite useful. But I've never
been able to figure out why the "dreadful things" he "heard & saw" are those
which "cold Earth wanderers never knew." Who are these "cold Earth
wanderers?" If they belong to the "Land of Men & Women too" that is described
in the poem, they would know the "dreadful things" the speaker describes all
too well. Is this line meant to be ironic? Or is Blake suggesting "cold
Earth Wanderers" refers to visionary figures such as the speaker of the poem,
who have never known such things in their own experience? This would seem
strained, since in Blake as in Dante (despite Hirsch), the route from
Innocence to four-fold vision runs through Experience and Ulro. Any ideas?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 08:18:12 -0500
From: Robert Anderson
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Electronic Jerusalem & copyrights
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19980310081812.00c3bd0c@pop.oakland.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I recommend you contact the editors of the Blake Archive--who have clearly
already worked out the copyright stuff. They do have a link for copyright
information--although I think it refers to use of their material.
Rob Anderson
Oakland University
At 02:00 PM 3/9/1998 -0800, you wrote:
>Blake list,
>
>Do any of you know who holds the copyright for copy E of Jerusalem (the
>fully colored copy) and if I would need their permission to put up a web
>site devoted to said work?
>
>I'm sure that none of you is a copyright lawyer; I'm not looking for a
>legal opinion, merely a point in the right direction. My inquiries so far
>have been fruitless. The edition I'm planning to scan is the Princeton, and
>there is no copyright information in that book.
>
>Any and all help/comments appreciated!
>
>Randall Hansen
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 98 15:48:48 CST
From: MTS231F@vma.smsu.edu
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: M. T. first stanza
Message-Id: <9803102158.AA14792@uu6.psi.com>
I've always read the "cold Earth wanderers" as the inhabitants of the
Land of Men & Women who know not what they do. The narrator is a
traveller in a strange land; like Goldsmith's Chinese visitor or like
our proverbial man from Mars, the stranger is able to notice the
strangeness and even destructiveness of customs in ways that the
native is not able to. Thus the Men & Women do "know" what they are
doing, but they do not know what they are doing, just the way that
we find it most hard to recognize, admit, and understand our
obsessions. Most of us, who are cold Earth wanderers ourselves,
have never and will never, recognize our own self-destructive
cycles, but the bard/prophet tries to awaken us to them. The line
sounds to me like the proverbial, "He who has ears to hear, let him
hear, or let him remain a cold, unknowing Earth wanderer forever."
It is a challenge, encouraging us to protest, "Hey, I'm not one of
those Philistines; I get it!"
On Mon, 9 Mar 1998 21:04:31 EST Andrewkauf said:
> The point made last week comparing or identifying the speaker of "The
>Mental Traveller" with the Bard of Experience is quite useful. But I've never
>been able to figure out why the "dreadful things" he "heard & saw" are those
>which "cold Earth wanderers never knew." Who are these "cold Earth
>wanderers?" If they belong to the "Land of Men & Women too" that is described
>in the poem, they would know the "dreadful things" the speaker describes all
>too well. Is this line meant to be ironic? Or is Blake suggesting "cold
>Earth Wanderers" refers to visionary figures such as the speaker of the poem,
>who have never known such things in their own experience? This would seem
>strained, since in Blake as in Dante (despite Hirsch), the route from
>Innocence to four-fold vision runs through Experience and Ulro. Any ideas?
>
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 19:02:18
From: Izak Bouwer
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: _MT_ first stanza
Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980310190218.368f17de@igs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Andy wrote:
>The point made last week comparing or identifying the speaker of "The
>Mental Traveller" with the Bard of Experience is quite useful. But I've
never
>been able to figure out why the "dreadful things" he "heard & saw" are t=
hose
>which "cold Earth wanderers never knew." Who are these "cold Earth
>wanderers?" If they belong to the "Land of Men & Women too" that is
described
>in the poem, they would know the "dreadful things" the speaker describes=
all
>too well. Is this line meant to be ironic? Or is Blake suggesting "col=
d
>Earth Wanderers" refers to visionary figures such as the speaker of the
poem,
>who have never known such things in their own experience? This would se=
em
>strained, since in Blake as in Dante (despite Hirsch), the route from
>Innocence to four-fold vision runs through Experience and Ulro. Any ide=
as?
I think that the =93I=94 of the poem is intended to be Blake himself. =20
There are numerous references to his claim to experience
=91mental=92 (spiritual) realities using the faculty of the Imagination.=20
It is interesting to read Henry Crabb Robinson=92s remark about Blake=92s
=93wildest assertions,=94 e.g. respecting =93 . . . the natural and spiri=
tual
worlds. By way of example of the difference between them, he
said: You never saw the Spiritual Sun. I have.=94 [His description of=20
the Spiritual Sun is contained in the last paragraph of _VLJ_.]
The Bard, also a visionary, appears to be associated more with a=20
Prophet figure (in his call to Earth to "Return"), and is therefore=20
cast in a stationary role rather than that of a traveler.
According to Sutherland (1955) the =93Men & Women=94
refers to eternal archetypes and it follows that the poet describes a
travel through regions of Man=92s eternal reality. (In Blake, the
living energies: the (male) Zoas, have (female)=91emanations=92, so=20
that the eternal world is a land of Men =93& Women too.=94 )
The =93dreadful=94 things recounted by the traveler are the events=20
encountered in eternal reality, which are awe-ful, or sublime.=20
They are the realities of the theological cycle (the Fall,=20
Incarnation, Apocalypse, and Paradise) in Man=92s spiritual journey.=20
At the Fall, when Man=92s vision becomes restricted to
physical rather than spiritual vision, he begins to see things in a=20
=91round=92 or compact way, as separate identities. This is due to=20
=93the Eye altering alters all=94 (Stanza 16), so that =93the flat Earth
becomes a Ball.=94 [Blake said to HCR: =93I do not believe that the=20
world is round. I believe it is quite flat.=94 HCR continues: =93I=20
objected the circumnavign -- We were called to dinner at the=20
moment & I lost the reply.=94] Part of the =91fishbowl=92 vision is=20
the illusion that there are individual persons. When Man loses=20
his spiritual vision, he becomes more fixated on surface reality
as perceived by his fallen senses. Individual persons are a product=20
of this surface reality, and of spiritual reality they certainly=20
=93never knew.=94
Therefore, the =93cold earth wanderers,=94 far removed from the=20
fire in the spiritual hearth, are we individuals, wandering on a=20
round and circumnavigated earth.
To me, the image of the fire in the hearth is very important.=20
Situated in the center of Paradise, it is the fire of the Spiritual Sun,=20
which radiates spiritual warmth (increasing Spirit), and consumes Error
(decreasing Nature). [It is also the furnaces stoked by Urthona=20
the blacksmith - and later by his fallen form, Los, when he forges,=20
and his emanation Enitharmon weaves, the merciful world of Time and=20
Space. Later, Los=92s activity leads to the construction of Golgonooza=20
and of Jerusalem.]=20
Izak
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 01:01:08 EST
From: Andrewkauf
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: M. T. first stanza
Message-Id:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Thanks for your reply--I find it pretty persuasive. I'm ashamed to admit that
I never heard of the second portion of the proverb you cite, "He who has ears
to hear let him hear, or let him remain a cold earth wanderer forever."
Would you know if this was around in the late 18th century? If so I think it
would clinch your point, but I don't think your interpretation necessarily
depends on this.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 98 10:24:38 CST
From: MTS231F@vma.smsu.edu
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: M. T. first stanza
Message-Id: <9803111629.AA09927@uu6.psi.com>
Once again, an attempt at humor founders on the faceless, voiceless
tone of e-mail. Once I started typing the proverb, as used by Jesus,
I couldn't forbear tacking on the very line that we were discussing.
The fit is so perfect that the patched-together proverb sounds
seamless, no?
On Wed, 11 Mar 1998 01:01:08 EST Andrewkauf said:
>Thanks for your reply--I find it pretty persuasive. I'm ashamed to admit that
>I never heard of the second portion of the proverb you cite, "He who has ears
>to hear let him hear, or let him remain a cold earth wanderer forever."
>Would you know if this was around in the late 18th century? If so I think it
>would clinch your point, but I don't think your interpretation necessarily
>depends on this.
>
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 98 13:54:12 GMT
From: Paul Tarry
To: Blake Group
Subject: Blakesex and the Internet of Vala
Message-Id:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; X-MAPIextension=".TXT"
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Soaking in the bath floating through the first chapter of Jerusalem I
kept hitting up against the matrix of sex and sin that play such a
prominent role in that book. This might be one area of Blakevision
that has become outdated or at least updated in the current world.
Sex is not sin anymore is it ? I'm not so sure if we can call this a
progression however, at least not in any unproblematic manner. The
so-called Sexual Revolution has given way to the sex industry and it
seems like one repression has been overlapped by another. And this
one sells. Everything. The veil of Vala has been stripped, trodden
underfoot and now underpins our feet and floats through the air
invisibly infiltrating our thoughts.
Sexual "freedom" is everywhere and nowhere closer than the
telephone wires that this message travels and the satellite dishes that
form the circumference of the shell. Seven out of ten enquiries on the
major Internet search engines are related to sex according to
someone who knows. But are we entering paradise in co-minglings of
ruby light delight ? Yes you say ? Good for you. Elsewhere though I
fear that sexual Jerusalem has not yet landed and that tyranny has
changed cloaks. Take a look at "sex" on the internet, (apparrently
thats what most users do anyway) and what do you see if you have
relatively mainstream tastes ? - well photographs. Photographs acting
as a fetish, images of female faces and bodies fulfilling the scenario
of fetishism. And it is mainly but not exclusively female bodies since
the sexuality of men is played out through the bodies of women,
whether matter or sign. Thus the photographed female face or
body becomes the fetish, and doubly so infact the female body
becomes the biggest fetish of all. The Veil has been removed the
moral law has shifted ground but the patriarchal manacle remains in
place keeping the eyes blinded by too much instead of too little. Or
am I just pissimistic and misguided ?
Enough already I need my lunch,
Take flair
Paul
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 11:07:30 +1000
From: paxinod@mlc.vic.edu.au
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Message-Id: <199803120002.LAA09464@nexus.mlckew.edu.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
Hey Izak
We need help!! with our project. Can you send us some info on
william blake's life maybe some little unknown facts.
Thankyou
DANA & CLEO
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 18:45:01 -0800
From: marcia baker
To: Nancy Piotrowski , blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blakesex and the Internet of Vala
Message-Id: <35074C2D.449@flash.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Nancy--I thought you might enjoy this one from the Blake group. You
might want to send it on to Tom!
Paul Tarry wrote:
>
> Soaking in the bath floating through the first chapter of Jerusalem I
> kept hitting up against the matrix of sex and sin that play such a
> prominent role in that book. This might be one area of Blakevision
> that has become outdated or at least updated in the current world.
> Sex is not sin anymore is it ? I'm not so sure if we can call this a
> progression however, at least not in any unproblematic manner. The
> so-called Sexual Revolution has given way to the sex industry and it
> seems like one repression has been overlapped by another. And this
> one sells. Everything. The veil of Vala has been stripped, trodden
> underfoot and now underpins our feet and floats through the air
> invisibly infiltrating our thoughts.
>
> Sexual "freedom" is everywhere and nowhere closer than the
> telephone wires that this message travels and the satellite dishes that
> form the circumference of the shell. Seven out of ten enquiries on the
> major Internet search engines are related to sex according to
> someone who knows. But are we entering paradise in co-minglings of
> ruby light delight ? Yes you say ? Good for you. Elsewhere though I
> fear that sexual Jerusalem has not yet landed and that tyranny has
> changed cloaks. Take a look at "sex" on the internet, (apparrently
> thats what most users do anyway) and what do you see if you have
> relatively mainstream tastes ? - well photographs. Photographs acting
> as a fetish, images of female faces and bodies fulfilling the scenario
> of fetishism. And it is mainly but not exclusively female bodies since
> the sexuality of men is played out through the bodies of women,
> whether matter or sign. Thus the photographed female face or
> body becomes the fetish, and doubly so infact the female body
> becomes the biggest fetish of all. The Veil has been removed the
> moral law has shifted ground but the patriarchal manacle remains in
> place keeping the eyes blinded by too much instead of too little. Or
> am I just pissimistic and misguided ?
>
> Enough already I need my lunch,
> Take flair
> Paul
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 23:34:20 -0800
From: "Steve Perry"
To:
Subject: RE: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Message-Id: <199803120734.XAA21341@mailhub1.ncal.verio.com>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
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Know any little unknown facts?
Is this what they mean by prophetic works?
Sorry, couldn't help myself....
Steve
>
> Hey Izak
> We need help!! with our project. Can you send us some info on
> william blake's life maybe some little unknown facts.
>
> Thankyou
> DANA & CLEO
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 13:40:00 EST
From: Andrewkauf
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Message-Id: <3885b5f4.35082c02@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
For information on Blake's life look at Blake Records by G. E. Bentley, jr.,
The Life of WIlliam Blake by Mona Wilson, or the Gilchrist biography of Blake.
Or are you saying that you want to be supplied with information without having
to do any reading?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 14:15:09 -0800 (PST)
From: Beth Norman
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Message-Id: <19980312221509.23410.rocketmail@send1b.yahoomail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
---Andrewkauf wrote:
>
> For information on Blake's life look at Blake Records by G. E.
Bentley, jr.,
> The Life of WIlliam Blake by Mona Wilson, or the Gilchrist biography
of Blake.
> Or are you saying that you want to be supplied with information
without having
> to do any reading?
>
>
To Andrewkauf
I've just finished studying some of Blake's poems and find him
absolutely fascinating. I would like to know more about him and
discuss his works in any means, whether obtaining information supplied
to me or otherwise.
I intend to do some more study (at uni) on him.
Thank you for replying and putting me on the list.
Beth Norman
_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 21:09:08
From: Izak Bouwer
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: _MT_ Stanza 2
Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980312210908.38cfa298@igs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Just a few comments on Stanza 2 of _MT_.
The word =93joy=94 is used twice in this stanza, which shows=20
that the rhetoric of the poem is not unremittingly negative. =20
Each Babe is =93born in joy,=94 since it is in an assertive=20
phase, and will not only survive in the face of the (then)=20
powerful opposition, but will triumph over it a quarter=20
cycle later, and will age into a state of unopposed=20
supremacy at the antipode (to be followed by decline). =20
=93. . . begotten in dire woe=94: Viewing the male=20
as signifying the Spirit, and the female as Nature, the=20
=93dire woe=94 of course corresponds to the Fall for the one=20
and the Apocalypse for the other. [There are precedents=20
for the use of sexual imagery for these theological events.=20
In the case of the Fall, one has - from the Book of Enoch -=20
the Descent of the Sons of God to the Daughters of Men=20
(illustrated by Blake), and in the case of the Apocalypse=20
the image of the Bridegroom taking his Bride.]=20
It is interesting to consider the implication of each of
the two figures being born in the environment of the other,
thus emerging in the garb or =91clothing=92 of the other. In the=20
case of the Spirit, this is of course evident in the expression=20
that Jesus is born of the Flesh, or that he is the Word made=20
flesh. In the case of Nature, the Female Babe emerging=20
from the fire in the hearth, is said to be =93all of solid fire.=94=20
The word =91solid=92 here indicates her own nature, emerging
from the =91fire=92 in the divine hearth.
Izak
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 18:56:51 -0700
From: holly
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: RE: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Message-Id: <199803130156.SAA26118@taisp1.in-tch.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Return-Path:
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>Old-Return-Path:
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>From: "Steve Perry"
>To:
>Subject: RE: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
>Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 23:34:20 -0800
>X-Msmail-Priority: Normal
>Importance: Normal
>X-Mimeole: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4
>Resent-Message-Id: <"-aj7M.0.2x.Kcv1r"@los>
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>X-Loop: blake@albion.com
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>
>
>Know any little unknown facts?
>
>Is this what they mean by prophetic works?
>
>
>
>Sorry, couldn't help myself....
>
>Steve
>
>>
>> Hey Izak
>> We need help!! with our project. Can you send us some info on
>> william blake's life maybe some little unknown facts.
>>
>> Thankyou
>> DANA & CLEO
>>
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 18:57:15 -0700
From: Andrewkauf (by way of holly )
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Message-Id: <199803130157.SAA26149@taisp1.in-tch.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
For information on Blake's life look at Blake Records by G. E. Bentley, jr.,
The Life of WIlliam Blake by Mona Wilson, or the Gilchrist biography of Blake.
Or are you saying that you want to be supplied with information without having
to do any reading?
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 18:56:26 -0700
From: holly
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blakesex and the Internet of Vala
Message-Id: <199803130156.SAA26101@taisp1.in-tch.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Return-Path:
>Resent-Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 18:45:01 -0800
>Old-Return-Path:
>Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 18:45:01 -0800
>From: marcia baker
>Reply-To: bakerink@flash.net
>To: Nancy Piotrowski , blake@albion.com
>Subject: Re: Blakesex and the Internet of Vala
>References: Conversation
with last
message
>Resent-Message-Id: <"B1Efh.0.ql.v1t1r"@los>
>Resent-From: blake@albion.com
>X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/6151
>X-Loop: blake@albion.com
>Resent-Sender: blake-request@albion.com
>
>Nancy--I thought you might enjoy this one from the Blake group. You
>might want to send it on to Tom!
>
>Paul Tarry wrote:
>>
>> Soaking in the bath floating through the first chapter of Jerusalem I
>> kept hitting up against the matrix of sex and sin that play such a
>> prominent role in that book. This might be one area of Blakevision
>> that has become outdated or at least updated in the current world.
>> Sex is not sin anymore is it ? I'm not so sure if we can call this a
>> progression however, at least not in any unproblematic manner. The
>> so-called Sexual Revolution has given way to the sex industry and it
>> seems like one repression has been overlapped by another. And this
>> one sells. Everything. The veil of Vala has been stripped, trodden
>> underfoot and now underpins our feet and floats through the air
>> invisibly infiltrating our thoughts.
>>
>> Sexual "freedom" is everywhere and nowhere closer than the
>> telephone wires that this message travels and the satellite dishes that
>> form the circumference of the shell. Seven out of ten enquiries on the
>> major Internet search engines are related to sex according to
>> someone who knows. But are we entering paradise in co-minglings of
>> ruby light delight ? Yes you say ? Good for you. Elsewhere though I
>> fear that sexual Jerusalem has not yet landed and that tyranny has
>> changed cloaks. Take a look at "sex" on the internet, (apparrently
>> thats what most users do anyway) and what do you see if you have
>> relatively mainstream tastes ? - well photographs. Photographs acting
>> as a fetish, images of female faces and bodies fulfilling the scenario
>> of fetishism. And it is mainly but not exclusively female bodies since
>> the sexuality of men is played out through the bodies of women,
>> whether matter or sign. Thus the photographed female face or
>> body becomes the fetish, and doubly so infact the female body
>> becomes the biggest fetish of all. The Veil has been removed the
>> moral law has shifted ground but the patriarchal manacle remains in
>> place keeping the eyes blinded by too much instead of too little. Or
>> am I just pissimistic and misguided ?
>>
>> Enough already I need my lunch,
>> Take flair
>> Paul
>
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 18:57:37 -0700
From: holly
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
Message-Id: <199803130157.SAA26169@taisp1.in-tch.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Return-Path:
>Resent-Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 14:15:09 -0800 (PST)
>Old-Return-Path:
>Date: Thu, 12 Mar 1998 14:15:09 -0800 (PST)
>From: Beth Norman
>Subject: Re: hELP US WITH OUR PROJECT! (PLEASE)
>To: blake@albion.com
>Resent-Message-Id: <"v6rz92.0.vO1.TA72r"@los>
>Resent-From: blake@albion.com
>Reply-To: blake@albion.com
>X-Mailing-List: archive/latest/6154
>X-Loop: blake@albion.com
>Resent-Sender: blake-request@albion.com
>
>
>
>
>
>
>---Andrewkauf wrote:
>>
>> For information on Blake's life look at Blake Records by G. E.
>Bentley, jr.,
>> The Life of WIlliam Blake by Mona Wilson, or the Gilchrist biography
>of Blake.
>> Or are you saying that you want to be supplied with information
>without having
>> to do any reading?
>>
>>
> To Andrewkauf
>
>I've just finished studying some of Blake's poems and find him
>absolutely fascinating. I would like to know more about him and
>discuss his works in any means, whether obtaining information supplied
>to me or otherwise.
>
>I intend to do some more study (at uni) on him.
>
>Thank you for replying and putting me on the list.
>
>Beth Norman
>_________________________________________________________
>DO YOU YAHOO!?
>Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
--------------------------------
End of blake-d Digest V1998 Issue #16
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