Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1999

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Nancy Goslee

Committee Members

Allen Dunn, Joe Black

Abstract

Thematically, this thesis positions William Blake's thought in relationship to a fairly orthodox Christianity—specifically, the notions of a last judgment, providence,and dualism. This thematic procedure, however, raises several methodological questions, such as how Blake is, wanted to be, and should be read; and how to reconcile diachronic reading practices with synchronic interpretations.Using Christ's unique position between time and eternity and between body and spirit, Blake rejects the abstraction that results from privileging any one of these over the others. When Blake does seem to privilege "spirit," he does not mean immaterial soul but imagination as the "ultimate semantic precondition." Blake's Visions (his specific works) reveal this "precondition" 1) by dialogically engaging narrative conventions—^using and critiquing them simultaneously: the plot of TheFour Zoas posits and unravels the Aristotelian unity and Christian closure it aims for and in doing this, becomes a site of perpetual narrative desire; and 2) by embracing its material existence in a manner that makes the accident of its composition an essential part of the work. A Vision of the Last Judgment and The Four Zoas seem unfinished fragments, but the play and chaos that exist in their respective notebookand manuscript states suggest a flux of meanings beyond authorial control or intention. This concept of imagination resembles contemporary notions of discourse.Hence, the figures of orthodoxy introduced in Night VIII of The Four Zoas show Blake engaging orthodox theodicy discursively and directly, and not allegorically ashe does in his earlier works, critiquing orthodoxy while using its own language.

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