Blake and the assimilation of chaos / Christine Gallant.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gallant, Christine, 1940- author.

Series:

Princeton legacy library.

Princeton Legacy Library

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Blake, William, 1757-1827--Criticism and interpretation.

Blake, William.

Myth in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (212 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, 1978.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In all of his works Blake struggled with the question of how chaos can be assimilated into imaginative order. Blake's own answer changed in the course of his poetic career. Christine Gallant contends that during the ten year period of composition of Blake's first comprehensive epic, The Four Zoas, Blake's myth expanded from a closed, static system to an open, dynamic process. She further argues that it is only through attention to the changing pattern of Jungian archetypes in the poem that one can discern this profound change. Using the depth psychology of Jung, Professor Gallant presents a comprehensive interpretation of Blake's poetry from his early "Lambeth" prophecies to his mature works, The Four Zoas, Milton, and Jerusalem. She offers a Jungian critical approach that respects the work's autonomy, but still suggests how literature is an ongoing imaginative experience in which archetypal symbols affect their literary contexts. What interests the author is the function that the very process of mythmaking had for Blake. Professor Gallant finds that the metaphysical opposition between God and Satan in Blake's earlier work gradually evolves into an interplay of these powers in the later works. The quality of Chaos changes for Blake from something unknown and feared, contrary to Order, to something intimately known and embraced.Originally published in 1979.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

ONE Myth and Non-Myth

TWO The Balance of Archetypes in The Four Zoas

THREE The Reassumption of Ancient Bliss

FOUR Going Forth to the Vintage of Nations

FIVE Beyond Myth, Beyond Non-Myth

Bibliography

Index

Backmatter

Notes:

Includes index.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780691628059

069162805X

9780691648293

0691648298

9781400869084

1400869080

OCLC:

902958250