Gnostic Apocalypse

Gnostic Apocalypse
Author: Cyril O'Regan
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2012-02-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0791489507

Jacob Boehme, the seventeenth-century German speculative mystic, influenced the philosophers Hegel and Schelling and both English and German Romantics alike with his visionary thought. Gnostic Apocalypse focuses on the way Boehme's thought repeats and surpasses post-reformation Lutheran thinking, deploys and subverts the commitments of medieval mysticism, realizes the speculative thrust of Renaissance alchemy, is open to esoteric discourses such as the Kabbalah, and articulates a dynamic metaphysics. This book critically assesses the striking claim made in the nineteenth century that Boehme's visionary discourse represents within the confines of specifically Protestant thought nothing less than the return of ancient Gnosis. Although the grounds adduced on behalf of the "Gnostic return" claim in the nineteenth century are dismissed as questionable, O'Regan shows that the fundamental intuition is correct. Boehme's visionary discourse does represent a return of Gnosticism in the modern period, and in this lies its fundamental claim to our contemporary philosophical, theological, and literary attention.

The Guest Book

The Guest Book
Author: Sarah Blake
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Total Pages: 497
Release: 2019-05-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250110254

Instant New York Times Bestseller Longlisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence 2020 New England Society Book Award Winner for Fiction “The Guest Book is monumental in a way that few novels dare attempt.” —The Washington Post The thought-provoking new novel by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Blake An exquisitely written, poignant family saga that illuminates the great divide, the gulf that separates the rich and poor, black and white, Protestant and Jew. Spanning three generations, The Guest Book deftly examines the life and legacy of one unforgettable family as they navigate the evolving social and political landscape from Crockett’s Island, their family retreat off the coast of Maine. Blake masterfully lays bare the memories and mistakes each generation makes while coming to terms with what it means to inherit the past.

Blake's Apocalypse

Blake's Apocalypse
Author: Harold Bloom
Publisher: Garden City, N.Y., Doubleday
Total Pages: 528
Release: 1963
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

William Blake was the messiah of the imagination; in poem after poem he reached the everlasting gospel of the intellect and will; a once-in-a-lifetime "original", he lived and died virtually unknown, unhonored. Since the 20th century, however, he's become the grand prix of the illuminati, a legendary figure whose message to mankind is full of, for some, visionary greatness, for others, mystical gibberish. Harold Bloom, one of Yale's up-and-coming faculty men, clearly belongs with the rooters, and his critique, an elaborate, eminently enthusiastic examination of all the verse, but most especially Milton, Jerusalem and The Four Zoas, should prove a sell-out with Blake scholars and fans. According to Bloom, Blake was insistently apocalyptic rather than biblically prophetic; his tapestry melded the symbolic lands of Beulah and Eden, the transformation of Innocence and Experience, the fall and resurrection of Man, the union of Good and Evil, those creative Contraries.

Madness and Blake's Myth

Madness and Blake's Myth
Author: Paul Youngquist
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0271039612

Blake, Politics, and History

Blake, Politics, and History
Author: George A. Jr. Rosso Jr.
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2013-05-13
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1134820615

This anthology of essays charts the work of William Blake - combining traditional and current historicist methods with a plurality of other approaches. While many essays here recuperate a radical Blake opposed to imperialism, slavery, and patriarchy, differences emerge over the nature of Blake's radicalism and his stance on revolution, violence, and democratic pluralism. Contributors may champion a Blake critical of patriarchal discourse and practice, but they remain cautious about Blake's "homocentric" solutions. In the "Blake and women" section, authors seek to reorient discussions by connecting Blake to historical issues concerning women, particularly domestic ideology and the idealised female of the conduct books.

A Guide to the Books of William Blake for Innocent and Experienced Readers

A Guide to the Books of William Blake for Innocent and Experienced Readers
Author: Henry Summerfield
Publisher: Colin Smythe Publication
Total Pages: 888
Release: 1998
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

The writings of William Blake were not understood by his contemporaries or the Victorians, and it was only in 1910, with the publication of Joseph Wicksteed's Blake's Vision of the Book of Job, that the long process of comprehending Blake's works seriously began. Part 1 of the present work consists of twelve chapters that are primarily intended to lead the reader who has little or no acquaintance with Blake's more difficult works through all his books. These consist of Poetical Sketches, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, three early prose tractates, the eleven shorter prophetic books (including The Marriage of Heaven and Hell), the lyrics of the Pickering Manuscript, The Four Zoas, Milton, Jerusalem, The Gates of Paradise, The Ghost of Abel and Illustrations of The Book of Job. The reader who wishes to explore a work more fully can proceed to Part II, where a headnote outlines the main scholarly views of its structure and meaning. There are two indexes providing ready access to explanations of terms and proper names.

The New Apocalypse

The New Apocalypse
Author: Thomas J. J. Altizer
Publisher: The Davies Group, Publishers
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2000-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781888570564

It is the thesis of The New Apocalypse that William Blake is the most original prophet & seer in the history of Christendom, & that an understanding of his revolutionary work demands a new form of theological thinking. Unlike the epic poetry of Dante & Milton, Blake's prophetic poetry both transcends & negates its roots in the Christian tradition: it unveils a Jesus who is the totality of both God & man, & envisions a cosmic history reflecting a movement from Fall to Apocalypse. This study is an attempt to enter the world of Blake's vision, to appropriate from that vision a theological form that will be relevant to our world & to do so on the basis of dialectical understanding of theology. Hegel is chosen as a guide to the dialectical ground & meaning of Blake's vision in the belief that Hegel's dialectical "system" is a far more effective guide to Blake's vsionary world than are the traditional forms of Christian theology & mysticism. Thomas J. J. Altizer is a native of Charleston, West Virginia. He took his PhD at the University of Chicago & is presently Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, The State University of New York at Stony Brook. Altizer can be characterized as the most radical theologian of our age, the only theologian who has constructed a full & comprehensive radical theology.

Blake, Politics, and History

Blake, Politics, and History
Author: Jackie DiSalvo
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 470
Release: 2015-08-14
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1317381386

First published in 1998, this book formed part of an ongoing effort to restore politics and history to the centre of Blake studies. It adopts a three pronged approach when presenting its essays, seeking to promote a return to the political Blake; to deepen the understanding of some of the conversations articulated in Blake’s art by introducing new, historical material or new interpretations of texts; and to highlight differing perspectives on Blake’s politics among historically focused critics. The collection contains essays with varying methodological assumptions and differing positions on questions central to historicist Blake scholarship.