From: blake-d-request@albion.com Sent: Friday, October 25, 1996 1:37 PM To: blake-d@albion.com Subject: blake-d Digest V1996 #117 ------------------------------ Content-Type: text/plain blake-d Digest Volume 1996 : Issue 117 Today's Topics: purported Blakean hostility toward women -Reply Re: Samson Agonistes Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women -Reply Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women -Reply Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Blake and Deism Blake hostile to women? No. Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Beginnings Blake's apparent misogyny. Blake and Deism Blake's apparent misogyny Re: Blake's ap-parent misogyny. Blake Chess Set Blake's apparent misogyny Looms new member ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 10:56:28 +0200 From: P Van Schaik To: blake@albion.com, mpuszta@hayden.edu Subject: purported Blakean hostility toward women -Reply Message-Id: Blake accorded women equality as far as I understand him. ... to such a degree that his meaning appears to be out of sight to most readers, literally and figuratively. If one gathers , from all of his works, what he means by Innocence, in which all beings aspired to become one with Jesus and Jerusalem in spirit, then one sees that the `divine marriage of the Lamb ' is a central symbol..... and that this is indicative of the need in every human for androgynous wholeness. More, it suggests that the created universe and the uncreated universes in Eternity are all sustained by the principle of perfect balance between contraries, such as are emblemised or only hinted at, by gender terms. Thus, in Innocence, Justice is balanced by Mercy, strength by weakness, light by darkness. All of this is in keeping with Jungian thought and yi-yang of Eastern thought, and the kabbalistic idea of the perfect balancing of opposites in the radiances of the tree of life - and the need for the restoration of the original holy union of the `Upper Father' and `Upper Mother' , Understanding with Wisdom. To attribute unfairness in Blake to women is thus a reductio ad absurdem, but one which is generally applauded at universities, sadly. Pam van Schaik, Un of S Africa, Pretoria ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 08:08:43 -0500 From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: Samson Agonistes Message-Id: <96102308084317@wc.stephens.edu> There are many important studies of Blake's illumination/illustration of other's works, including Milton. YOu might look at STephen Behrendt's _Moment of Explosion_, which both reproduces and interprets Blake's Milton illuminations. Tom Dillingham ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 08:14:58 -0500 (CDT) From: Suzanne Araas Vesely To: blake@albion.com Cc: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Margaret: I disagree with Storch, whose reading of Blake is reductive and inaccurate, in my estimation, merely dredging up old issues of psychological inadequacy. But see my reply to Pam Shaik on Blake's view of woman. On Tue, 22 Oct 1996, Marsha Pusztai wrote: > I recently read a book, Sons and Adversaries by Margaret Storch, which > upset the world I believed Blake had established. The book compares Blake > to Lawrence, noting that although both are sensitive to the female > experience, they also harbor deep-seated antagonism toward women. Storch > does this through the lens of Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic theories > (similar to Freud's). It seems to be a solid work, yet I don't see Blake > as one who used his work for the purpose of asserting his masculine > supremacy in order to control the powerful female figures he creates. > Being female myself, this may not be a popular position for me to hold. > > Nevertheless, would someone please give me their take on Blake's attitude > toward women as reflected in any of his works? Is Storch's view viable or > not? > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 08:11:40 -0500 (CDT) From: Suzanne Araas Vesely To: blake@albion.com Cc: blake@albion.com, mpuszta@hayden.edu Subject: Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women -Reply Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Pam, the first piece written by a woman on Blake in the early 1970's (Irene Taylor; see rpt. in the Norton paperback of Blake selections) tried to use the argument of androgynous wholeness. But she did so fully recognizing some disturbing aspects of Blake's treatment of women that need to be honestly addressed, not glossed over. I am more inclined to view Blake as gradually developing an egalitarian vision of women, one that is never complete--but even Wollstonecraft didn't go that far, although she felt that women ought to have equal opportunity for education. Blake finally corrected his overly iconic view of woman in his revision of _The Gates of Paradise_ by asking himself, "Alas! The Female Martyr! Is she also the Divine Image?" and inserting at the end of _Gates_ what I believe is a comment on his own short view of Woman, which I quote from memory: "Truly, my Satan, Thou art but a Dunce/ And Doest not know the garment from the Man/ Every Harlot was a Virgin once/ Nor canst thou ever change Kate into Nan." He is accepting the fact that woman can live in the world with feet of flesh and clay, just like men can. That freedom--which is not necessarily related to androgyny, a word he never used except as the problematic "Hermaphrodite"--that is the basis of vision for woman. It is a fully Christian vision of a free, sacred will that can err, but that also can achieve the full dignity of the divine nature. On Wed, 23 Oct 1996, P Van Schaik wrote: > Blake accorded women equality as far as I understand him. ... to such a > degree that his meaning appears to be out of sight to most readers, > literally and figuratively. If one gathers , from all of his works, what he > means by Innocence, in which all beings aspired to become one with > Jesus and Jerusalem in spirit, then one sees that the `divine marriage of > the Lamb ' is a central symbol..... and that this is indicative of the need in > every human for androgynous wholeness. ... > To attribute unfairness in Blake to women is thus a reductio ad > absurdem, but one which is generally applauded at universities, sadly. > Pam van Schaik, Un of S Africa, Pretoria > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 09:11:18 -0500 (CDT) From: Suzanne Araas Vesely To: blake@albion.com Cc: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Marsha: I think that Storch is off the mark. She dredges up the old notions of psychological inadequacy in Blake, which are reductive but not informative. She does not seem to recognize that women had a good deal to do with the popularization of the rationalism that Blake opposed as a primary way of knowing. But see my reply to Pam S. on the same subject. Suzanne Araas Vesely On Tue, 22 Oct 1996, Marsha Pusztai wrote: > I recently read a book, Sons and Adversaries by Margaret Storch, which > upset the world I believed Blake had established. The book compares Blake > to Lawrence, noting that although both are sensitive to the female > experience, they also harbor deep-seated antagonism toward women. Storch > does this through the lens of Melanie Klein's psychoanalytic theories > (similar to Freud's). It seems to be a solid work, yet I don't see Blake > as one who used his work for the purpose of asserting his masculine > supremacy in order to control the powerful female figures he creates. > Being female myself, this may not be a popular position for me to hold. > > Nevertheless, would someone please give me their take on Blake's attitude > toward women as reflected in any of his works? Is Storch's view viable or > not? > > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 09:25:32 -0500 (CDT) From: Suzanne Araas Vesely To: blake@albion.com Cc: blake@albion.com, mpuszta@hayden.edu Subject: Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women -Reply Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII As I may have inadvertently sent P. Schaik a private message, I am repeating it here: THe first feminist evaluation of Blake, Irene Tayler in the early 1970's, tried to use the argument of androgyny that Pam uses below to justify Blake. See the Norton paperback of BLake selections for a reprint. But Tayler did not try to gloss over the disturbing images of Woman that Blake employs. I don't think it can be done. My take on Blake's visionary woman is that he developed his idea of it over time. In his revision of _The Gates of Paradise_ (As Diana Hume George points out) there is something that looks a good deal like self-correction: "Alas! The Female Martyr! Is she also the Divine Image?" says one of his emblem characters, followed in the Epilogue by lines that I think are addressed to his own overly symbolic representation of Woman. I quote from memory: "Truly my Satan thou art but a Dunce/ Ad doest not know the Garment from the Man.? Every Harlot was a Virgin once/ Nor cn thou ever change Kate into Nan." I think that this is Blake's way of saying that woman is as free as man to have feet of clay, to err--and also to have vision. This very Christian vision of free will, not necessarily the notion of androgyny, is Blake's last word on the subject. I do not discount androgyny, but Blake never used the word except in the problematic sense of the "Hermaphrodite." Blake was, however, never one to grant woman even the limited access to economic independence that both Pam and I enjoy these days. Wollstonecraft at least did so, although even she did not regard woman as fully equal to men, only "companions." Blake had the larger ambition for women in terms of personal worth. On Wed, 23 Oct 1996, P Van Schaik wrote: > Blake accorded women equality as far as I understand him. ... to such a > degree that his meaning appears to be out of sight to most readers, > literally and figuratively. If one gathers , from all of his works, what he > means by Innocence, in which all beings aspired to become one with > Jesus and Jerusalem in spirit, then one sees that the `divine marriage of > the Lamb ' is a central symbol..... and that this is indicative of the need in > every human for androgynous wholeness. More, it suggests that the > created universe and the uncreated universes in Eternity are all > sustained by the principle of perfect balance between contraries, such > as are emblemised or only hinted at, by gender terms. Thus, in > Innocence, Justice is balanced by Mercy, strength by weakness, light > by darkness. All of this is in keeping with Jungian thought and yi-yang of > Eastern thought, and the kabbalistic idea of the perfect balancing of > opposites in the radiances of the tree of life - and the need for the > restoration of the original holy union of the `Upper Father' and `Upper > Mother' , Understanding with Wisdom. > To attribute unfairness in Blake to women is thus a reductio ad > absurdem, but one which is generally applauded at universities, sadly. > Pam van Schaik, Un of S Africa, Pretoria > ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 13:30:14 -0500 (EST) From: WC449298@HOPE.CIT.HOPE.EDU To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Message-Id: <01IAZFCASZZM8XFTBE@HOPE.CIT.HOPE.EDU> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I haven't read this book, or any other book analyzing Blake's attitude toward women, but I do have some thoughts on the subject. Blake was astoundingly countercultural in his attitude toward women as equals to men, and as bearers of the divine image. However, there is a tradition in early Western civilization's mythologies to identify the feminine with the earth, and the masculine with spiritual things. While Blake battled many notions of his time (and ours), he does have a negative attitude towards the earth and nature, which are traditionally regarded as "she". This is what separates him from the other Romantics like, for instance, Emerson, who ironically was much more of a misogynist than Blake. I don't know if these kind of archetypes were used in the argument for Blake's negative attitude toward women, but they do give us something to think about. I personally think that it's just a reflection of Blake's influence by his culture--as much as he rebelled, he could only do so making use of the archetypes which are so deep-seated in the Western world, as we all must, being to large extents products of our culture. Is any of this making sense?--Chris ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 13:43:44 -0400 From: MStodnick@aol.com To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake and Deism Message-Id: <961023134343_1845729622@emout13.mail.aol.com> can anyone please provide me with valuable sources or advice on Blake's reaction to "Deism" and "natural religion". I am familiar with most of the major critical studies concerning the two "There is No Natural Religion" etchings and also the "All Religions Are One" etching, but any more remote studies would be grately appreciated. Also, I would appreciate any personal thoughts....Thanks ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 13:34:25 CST From: "Ed Friedlander, M.D." To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake hostile to women? No. Message-Id: <28403916DF4@ALUM.UHS.EDU> Blake's language which might be contrued as hostile to women is obviously metaphoric. Like it or not, there is a large literature of misogyny and misandrism, reflecting the (general) differences in behaviors and outlooks between men and women. Each gender's complaints about the other are well-known, and I'd be surprised if anyone can present evidence (not just assertions) that these are cultural rather than hard-wired into our brains. For example, as a man, I am constitutionally incapable of remembering to put down the toilet seat; it's simply a given that I will throw my dirty socks in the middle of the living-room floor; I cannot think and talk at the same time; I may (and once did) hit someone who had (severely) provoked me before I realized what I was doing. And so forth. The familiar male complaints about women are equally well-known, and any student of the literature of the past is well-acquainted with them. Check out Shakespeare (his women speak bluntly about us men, too). Now, if Blake were actually a misogynist, he would have focused on particular behaviors of human females which human males generally dislike. And the plain truth is that he does not. All the complaints about "feminine will", depictions of "daughters of Albion" disembowelling giants, etc., etc., are obviously metaphors for cosmic concerns. The most touching passage which I remember is Los's complaint against Enitharon in "The Four Zoas", in which he complains "Even the beetle laughs at Los" (the beetle has a better sexual relationship, it seems). It was argued (I forget the author; the book had a cartoon of a man and a woman and the downward spiral of their relationship) that Kate had refused Blake his marital rights and that this accounts for their having been childless. If the passage were autobiographical, we might wonder what it is doing in the middle of a poem which is obviously about metaphysical issues, and at a time in which Blake was not introducing other personal experiences ("Hand" and "Hyle" and "Scofield" do not appear until later). I'd consider this an open question and would like to hear from somebody else who's worked closely with the text. Anyone who still wants to consider Blake a misogynist (and isn't just playing politics) needs to take account of the picture of Adam and Even in their bower, or the invocations of the Daughters of Beaulah, or the other exquisite appreciations of the beauty and hard work of women. Just my two bits. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 15:06:18 -0400 (EDT) From: "Avery F. Gaskins" To: Subject: Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Type: Text/plain; charset=US-ASCII If Blake is such an egalitarian regarding women, why is it that his post-apoca- lyptic view of things posits the disappearance of emanations and the world of the eternals becomes an all male affair? Or is that misreading Blake? Avery Gaskins ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 14:46:08 -0500 From: jmichael@seraph1.sewanee.edu (J. Michael) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: purported Blakean hostility toward women Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >If Blake is such an egalitarian regarding women, why is it that his post-apoca- >lyptic view of things posits the disappearance of emanations and the world of >the eternals becomes an all male affair? Or is that misreading Blake? > Avery Gaskins As I read it, the emanations (collectively named Jerusalem) constitute the space and the vehicle through which the eternals "converse" in Eternity (as at the end of _Jerusalem_). Perhaps that means they enable males to talk to each other, but they don't disappear completely, and without them that conversation could not take place. I think of the emanation, like the "bounding line," as the outward circumference that not only provides form but allows contact with others and the world outside: when the emanations divide from the spectres, the spectres become entirely self-enclosed and formless at the same time. Jennifer Michael ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 16:01:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Leigh A Vrabel To: blake@albion.com Subject: Beginnings Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hullo everyone...I'm a graduate student at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, OH, and I've just this morning subscribed to the list...I'm taking my first class in Blake (apart from the meat and potatoes stuff one gets in an undergrad survey course) and I'm thoroughly confused so far, which is, according to my prof, an indication that I'm on the right track. Our major project for the quarter is an explication of The Four Zoas; any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated! Leigh Anne Vrabel ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 21:19:35 -0300 (ADT) From: Nikhil Madan To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake's apparent misogyny. Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII While a few contributors to this group have pointed out that Blake had to make use of cultural archetypes in order to communicate effectively about gender equality, I wonder if this is really the case. Doing so would surely place Blake as a product of his age (i.e. sexist). Isn't it the great visionaries who refuse to bow to societal convention, and instead make everyone else conform to their ideals? By making use of cultural archetypes, Blake shows himself to toe the party-line, on this issue at least. Nik Madan. (nmadan@is2.dal.ca) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 21:26:35, -0500 From: LVDP51A@prodigy.com ( PAUL SCANLON) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake and Deism Message-Id: <199610240126.VAA15660@mime4.prodigy.com> Although the others may be able to give you more specific resources regarding Blake's reaction to Deism and natural religion, I though you might want to look at Blake's letters to Flaxman as well as the text and criticisms on "The Four Zoas." A secondary source you might consider would be "Testimony to the Invisible: Essays on Swedenborg," JAmes F. Lawrence, ed. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Oct 96 22:46:30 CDT From: lance massey To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake's apparent misogyny Message-Id: <9610240410.AA26884@uu6.psi.com> First off, a late thanks to all who responded to my query on Blake's versification. The project is beginning to take shape; I'll offer some ideas up to you all as soon as they crystallize a bit more. But to the point: to be a product of one's times is not to lack vision, necessarily. Nobody could argue that Blake wasn't of his time, unless he really were God. We all have blind spots. Yet there is a real sense in which Blake's total vision is not exclusive of but revelling in his own time. His body of work contains too many ballads, doggerel poems, and street-songs to be Urizenically reduced to just t he "visionary or prophetic works. This is not to say that the prophetic works are anything but what their label suggests, but rather to point to the (perhaps uncomfortable) fact that, at least in collections, they exist side by side with popular and often vulgar poems. Blake wrote: "Unorganized Innocence , An Impossibility / Innocence dwells with Wisdom but never with ignorance" Might we rewrite the first line as "vision without a world, an impossibility"? Fire away, Lance. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 00:37:54 -0400 From: WaHu@aol.com To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: Blake's ap-parent misogyny. Message-Id: <961024003754_1180161075@emout08.mail.aol.com> The question of whether Blake might have had a different take on reality from Melanie Klein is ridiculous at all levels. It reminds me of my favorite title of a Marvel Comic Book: What if Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos Had fought WW2 in Outter Space? The spiritual and physical condition of Women 200 years ago was vastly different from these here modern days. Whether it was worse is a trickier question than you might think. Certainly there were fewer middle class women. Would you care to speculate on Blake's opinion of middle class women? Might he and Jane Austen have become close personal friends? ...Just to mention the one female contemporary artist who is arguably equal to or superior to Blake... I think not. Oh suure, I like to think if I lived 200 years ago I'd have been a violent abolitionist and what have you. But not likely. I would also say that it isn't entirely possible to vindicate Blake by quoting his words! I mean: The U.S. Constitution and the first ten ammendments to it talk a good game, but for all that a Negro is legally indistinguishable from a toaster-oven. (We have similar incongruities today, and middle-class women in 200 years will prove with ease and alacrity that you, gentle reader, were a willing collaborator in their perpetuation.) Let Her among you who is without stones cast the first sin. -the Bible of Hell Hugh Walthall wahu@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 96 10:12 EDT From: "Elisa E. Beshero 814 862-8914" To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake Chess Set Message-Id: <9610241413.AA24200@uu6.psi.com> Brandon, --So you want to have a Blake chess set carved? Cool! Here are some suggestions: Kings: Urizen and Los, Queens: Vala? and Enitharmon, or maybe Jerusalem. Pawns-- in a radical move--make 'em female: the Daughters of Albion, and the Daughters of Beulah. Orc would need to be a piece. The interesting thing about this is that I'm thinking of lots of female characters, and fewer memorable males! So I'm wanting Oothoon and Ahania to be pieces, too-- maybe bishops. Of course, Bromion and Theotormon could maybe be rooks. Hmmmm. Let's not forget Rahab, Tirzah, and Tiriel. What are others' ideas for a Blakean chess set? Could we come up with a Blakean re-visioning of the _game_ as well? (Wouldn't Urizen move differently than Los?) This is a fun topic! I'll keep thinking about it and may post on it again later. . . --elisa - - The original note follows - - From: LNAQ30A@prodigy.com (MR BRANDON M KAIN) Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1996 17:44:47, -0500 To: Blake@albion.com Subject: New Member Resent-From: blake@albion.com Reply-To: blake@albion.com Hello, my name is Brandon Kain and I am a new member on this thing. I don't really know that much about Blake, aside from what I've covered in first and second year English classes, but from what I can gather, he's a very interesting intellectual figure. I was thinking of getting a chess set carved for Christmas this year, and I would really like to have the pieces represent figures from Blake's works. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what Blake characters would be appropriate for certain pieces, and information on where I could find visual representations of them? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 96 09:52:49 CDT From: lance massey To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake's apparent misogyny Message-Id: <9610241513.AA00467@uu6.psi.com> As far as the term "Urizenically" goes, that can be retracted. Upon reflection I'm not too big on the choice myself. My only point about the denial of "the world" was that the prophetic works are presumed to be, if not "not of this world," then somehow transcendant of it--not tied to the whims of culture. Poets of the Eighteenth Century (many of them, any way) were often concerned with distancing themselves from "Grub Street" doggerel, much of which was fit only for the drunken reveries of Gin Lane. Pope would not have had his own poetry become a "relic of the bum." His poetry was better than that. We presume the same about Blake and to a greater degree, because his poetry is "great literature," and its greatness derives not from the artifice of rhymed couplets but from something like real inspiration (in the theological sense). Yet Blake wrote poems that fully participated in the "lowest" places of his culture when he wrote some of his songs, satires, and ballads. These are the poems of this world, and they usually get ignored. I hope this clears up your question somewhat. I was (and am) very hurried in my writing and certainly could have made my point clearer (and more quickly!). Lance. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 13:11:02 CST From: "Ed Friedlander, M.D." To: blake@albion.com, "PEACH/DIANE"@vortex.more.net Subject: Looms Message-Id: <29BA03D2E19@ALUM.UHS.EDU> Thanks for your kind words, Pam, and for reminding me of the looms. It's my favorite image from Blake -- and for a reason! As a pathologist, I study tissue. The word "histology" (the study of tissue), like "tissue paper", means "woven". Even the psalmist (139) speaks of weaving the body in the womb. Blake knew the mystical tradition of souls being incarnated into mortal bodies. His vision in "Milton" of the "spectres of the dead" being incarnated into bodies prepared by weavers and other crafters especially appealed to me as a premedical student -- not the least for the gore. The dying soldier in Catch 22 shares his secret with Yossarian -- "Man is matter" -- as his viscera tumble out of his abdomen. Tirzah tells Milton the same story, tempting him to become the ruler of the scientific age. Instead, Milton sees the body woven as the means to redemption. This is the last thing he sees before Ololon catches up with him. Incarnation, matter, flesh and blood, physical life and physical death. Mother Nature. Vala. Not misogyny. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Oct 1996 22:30:07 -0400 From: AGater1038@aol.com To: blake@albion.com Subject: new member Message-Id: <961024223005_217661367@emout10.mail.aol.com> Hello to everyone! My name is Anita Gater. I am 26 and live in Big Bear, CA. I have been reading the list for a couple of days now and am really excited to have found you! I am currently attending Victor Valley College in Victorville, CA. I will be transfering shortly to Cal State San Bernardino to pursue my BA in English. From there it will probably be on to UC Riverside for my MA. I started reading Blake about a year ago. I can't get enough of him. He has become an addiction. I have full color facimiles of many of his works and never leave home without one in hand. People often ask me what got me so interested in Blake and my answer is always that he makes me think. My addiction started with 'The Fly.' I just couldn't stop thinking about that poem. I went on to read everything I could find on Blake and his writings (must be around 5000 pages worth of books that I have read in this last year about Blake.) Now I am rereading much of what I have read. I have also been reading Swedenborg to come to an understanding of 'The Marraige of Heaven and Hell.' This book has become one of my favorites (although my mother seems to think that I have become some sort of satanist or something because of it!) I am looking foreward to joining in your conversations about Blake and his works. - Anita -------------------------------- End of blake-d Digest V1996 Issue #117 **************************************