Today's Topics:
Re: Acid of Urizen
Re: Intro-new member
Blake and Crabb R.
Thank you
Blake and the Kabbalah
Re:zoas
BLAKE & GERMAN ROMANTICISM--REFERENCES (2)
KANT & BRITISH ROMANTICISM [fwd]
Re: palimpsest of city -Reply -Reply
Zoas and emanations
Anglo-German Blake Connections
Blakean Kenosis
Re: Anglo-German Blake Connections
Re: Anglo-German Blake Connections
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Date: Sat, 25 Jul 98 10:22:14 +0100 ( + )
From: Paul Tarry
To: Blake Group
Subject: Re: Acid of Urizen
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>Blake expects that every man will employ his eyes to see
>through rather than with (unlike England who expects him to do his
>duty) what you report is the consequence. In the letter from
>Felpham to (i think Butts) is the wonderful little poem in which he
>calls your experience that of "fourfold vision" it occurs when you
>balance the four Zoas so that your perception is as much with your
>senses as it is with your reasoning, and as much with your intuition
>as with your feelings. I'm working away on a little book about just
>how to repeat that experience even when you can't go to the library
>(or the Tate, or Yale, or the Huntington in San Marino)
Jim what you say makes total sense and I would be very interested to
read your book when it's done, it sounds like just the thing I'm looking
for. It was a few years back now that I read the Book of Urizen, but
that experience lives through every day. I wonder how certain art
works can elevate you, I remember reading books about Blake that
kept mentioning the influence of Michelangelo on him. Gonna have
to check out Michelangelo I thought, cue another mesmeric
encounter with a huge book of Sistine Chapel reproductions, it truly
was unearthly.
Outside of art that state of mind for me was very similar to some
experiences with LSD. Infact plate 53 of Jerusalem was the moment I
really connected with Blake. Dancing in a club I became absolutely
wrapped in the music, the most beautiful sound, thinking that just
being able to hear is incredible. Then there was a whiteness about
everything, a rightness, "beauty at every port" I remember thinking to
myself; wherever my floating vision rested my eyes settled on glory.
Afterwards I realised time had passed without me being aware, that
warm white lifeness was God was everything peace. Life was good.
Looking at plate 53 of Jerusalem I saw the same the face, the world,
the layers of time and space and the whiteness shining beneath it all,
underpinning, being.
How you come to such experiences come to believe, there couldn't
be a more interesting subject to me. I know they totally transform your
life - Viva Blake !
Paul
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Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 08:43:25 -0600
From: jmichael0@sewanee.edu (Jennifer Michael)
To: mmahin@funtv.com
Cc: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Intro-new member
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Dear Michael--
(I'm copying this to the list for Henriette and anyone else looking for
"Blake Experts")
Rather than start with programs and scanning the lists of their faculty,
you might try starting at the other end. Check the MLA Bibliography for
new books and articles on Blake (Henriette, I realize this may be difficult
from Denmark) and when you read something you like, find out where that
person teaches. I could rattle off a whole list of names, but I would
hesitate to recommend someone I haven't worked with personally. Bear in
mind that not all great scholars are great teachers: sometimes you're
better off reading their books. Also bear in mind that professors retire,
die, and move to other jobs, so try to find a place with more than one
person you could work with, and where you'll be happy *living* as well.
I don't mean to sound preachy--just take this from one who finished her PhD
a scarce two years ago. Best of luck!
Jennifer Michael
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Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 15:49:27 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Henriette Stavis
To: rdumain@igc.apc.org
Cc: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake and Crabb R.
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Dear Ralph,
I hope that I haven't got your hopes up too high. When I used the word=20
'links' I meant that Crabb R. had studied at the University of Jena at=20
the time of the Schlegels and Novalis, and had attended the Schelling=20
lectures as well as many others. And as such I think he qualifies as a=20
link between the English and German culture at the turn of the 18th to=20
19th century. He also wrote an article about Blake in 'Vaterl=E4ndisches=20
Museum' (1811). I'm not sure what kind of periodical this is, I've only=20
just discovered it. I'm also aware that Crabb R. only met Blake late in=20
life, but I the article proves that Crabb R. must have known of Blake=20
earlier.=20
=09About Novalis, I wouldn't know whether he knew of Blake. But the=20
type of writing that he produced is at least somewhat similar to that of=20
Blake. What I would like to work on is the international Romantic=20
movement that was sweeping Europe at the turn of the century. You mention=
=20
a book about Blake's reception in the 19th century, do you have its=20
bibliography?=20
=09In your second mailing, you mentioned Blake in relation to people=20
such as Hegel, Nietzsche, and Feuerbach. I'm afraid that I can't help you=
=20
on any of those fronts. They are in fact somewhat later than the period=20
that I would like to look at. As you might know, the German use of the=20
word 'die Romantik' covers a much later period that the English use, and=20
the German idealism that you mention is actually later than what I=20
understand as Romanticism in England. The Germans use the word 'die=20
Fr=FChromantik' ie. early German Romanticism, and that covers a time period=
=20
just before and just after the turn of the century, and it is the theory=20
of this period that I would like to use in connection with Blake. I am,=20
however, still very interested in whatever your research may turn up. The=
=20
article that you mentioned sounds very promising and I shall surely look=20
it up.
=09Do you read German? With your interest in Blake and Hegel, I=20
would have thought that there might be sources written in German. My=20
interest in Blake and the Germans (historically, biographically, and=20
theoretically) originally stems from my disinclination with French theory=
=20
and philosophers. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there has been much talk=20
of French inspired theory lately. I'm not that well-versed in=20
theoreticians such as Derrida and Foucault, so I am not qualified to=20
criticize them. But I do feel that I have a right to turn away from their=
=20
type of theory and towards a more Germanic approach to my favourite poet=20
- viz. Blake. (I hope I haven't stepped on anybody's toes!) My=20
inclination towards German interests is purely a matter of personal=20
preference, probably based on the banal fact that I can read German=20
whereas I can't read French.
Sincerely,
Henriette Stavis
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Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 15:59:28 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Henriette Stavis
To: mmahin@funtv.com
Cc: blake@albion.com
Subject: Thank you
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Dear Michael,
Thank you for your response. I have heard of Professor Essick, but thank
you all the same.
Your plans for your MA thesis sound very interesting. I hadn't heard of
Blake in connection with Christian Atheism. I would have thought that
aetheism was a far from Blake as you could get, but I here to be
enlightened. Perhaps I've misunderstood something?
You also write that you are interested in the intersection of Philosophy,
Religion and Literature. This might be redundant, but have you heard of
Northrop Frye? If you're not interested in 'religious text AS literature'
then you probably won't be interested in 'The Great Code', but you might
still be interested in his famous book on Blake 'Fearful Symmetry'.
Although, some may think he is a little dated, I still think he is one of
the first great pioneers in academic Blake studies.
Henriette
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Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 16:04:06 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Henriette Stavis
To: VSCHAP@alpha.unisa.ac.za
Cc: blake@albion.com
Subject: Blake and th