------------------------------ Content-Type: text/plain blake-d Digest Volume 1996 : Issue 35 Today's Topics: Re: Blake and Psychoanalysis RE: Golgonooza -Reply -Reply Re: Unidentified subject! RE: Bookstore--hopping for Blake-iana Re: Marriage of Heaven and Hell Greetings Ackroyd biography Unidentified subject! -Reply Re: What's math got to do with it? Re: blake and modern psychology Re: BLAKE & THE MODERNS (1) Re: Golgonooza Re: Marriage of Heaven and Hell RE: Golgonooza -Reply -Reply ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 17:14:32 -0600 (MDT) From: "Bruce Richardson" To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: Blake and Psychoanalysis Message-Id: <1513282819@ACAD.CC.WHECN.EDU> Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 13:39:31 -0500 (CDT) From: Greg Sturgeon To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake and Psychoanalysis Reply-to: blake@albion.com Does anyone know of any critics who have looked at Blake either side-by-side with contemporary psychoanalysis (Lacan, Kristeva) or from a psychoanalytic perspective? I've been looking for Mark Bracher's _Being Form'd_, but the library here doesn't have it. Greg Sturgeon c647679@showme.missouri.edu enggreg@showme.missouri.edu http://www.missouri.edu/~c647679/ Check out articles by Dennis Horn--via MLA Biblio. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 13:32:40 +0200 From: P Van Schaik To: blake@albion.com Subject: RE: Golgonooza -Reply -Reply Message-Id: Thanks for this very interesting feedback on 18th Century interest in mercy vs justice. In the book I'm writing on Blake and Kabbalah, this whole question figures quite large as the radiances on the Tree of Life are all in harmony until the `roots' of God's Stern Judgment (Din) become out of balnce with his Abundant Love (Hesed). And, of course, I find Blake full of rich passages on this score. Perhaps you could recommend some further reading on the subject of contemporary interest in the divine opposition of the two to me ? Yours Pam van Schaik ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 19:49:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Ralph Dumain To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: Unidentified subject! Message-Id: <199604130249.TAA21100@igc2.igc.apc.org> Is this message for the public,, and if so, can you transmit it in ASCII characters? I never read binary files. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 22:17:21 -0700 (PDT) From: Ralph Dumain To: blake@albion.com Subject: RE: Bookstore--hopping for Blake-iana Message-Id: <199604130517.WAA03415@igc2.igc.apc.org> As it turns out, smart guy, I have several of your books, including the impossibly hard to find BLAKE, HEGEL, AND DIALECTIC, but this one is a bit more than I want to pay. But since you have piped up, maybe you can help add to my Blake-Hegel bibliography, which I've been working on here on and off for the past year or more. While you're at it, do you have any references to comparisons of Blake to Ludwig Feuerbach? Recently, I came cross a couple of mentions of Feuerbach in Blake books, either in Jerome McGann's THE ROMANTIC IDEOLOGY or Michael Ferber's THE SOCIAL VISION OF WILLIAM BLAKE, or both. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 Apr 1996 15:03:16 -0500 (CDT) From: Darlene Sybert To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: Marriage of Heaven and Hell Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII > I am sorry to ask a question which would probably take many pages, if > not chapters, to answer, but can somebody give me a quick summary of what the > Marriage of Heaven and Hell is about? What are some things for someone, who is > not well acquainted with Blake, to keep in mind while reading it in order to > understand it better? Is anyone else getting double posts? Darlene Sybert http://www.missouri.edu/~c557506/index.htl University of Missouri at Columbia, English Dept Office: 6 Tate Hall Tu-Th 1:30-3:30 573-884-6902 ****************************************************************************** The Hand of Vengeance found the Bed To which the Purple Tyrant fled That hand crushed the Tyrants head And became a Tyrant in his stead. -Wm Blake, "Grey Monk" ****************************************************************************** ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 Apr 1996 16:37:43 -0400 From: albright@world.std.com (R.H. Albright) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Greetings Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I'm an artist myself, and have long felt an affinity with William Blake. To read about me and other artists I love, my personal URL is: http://world.std.com/~albright/ To see my Blake page (hey, it's only 1 day old! please don't be too rough!), that address is: http://world.std.com/~albright/blake.html I am particularly interested in _Songs of Innocence and Experience_, largely because they are somewhat within my grasp. - R.H. Albright ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 14:06:42 -0500 From: tomdill@womenscol.stephens.edu To: blake@albion.com Subject: Ackroyd biography Message-Id: <96041414064280@womenscol.stephens.edu> Everyone has probably already seen this, but in case you missed it, today's NY Times Book Review includes Penelope Fitzgerald's friendly review of Peter Ackroyd's biography of Blake. She refers to Ackroyd as a "brilliant guide and interpreter," though she offers little substantiation for any new or unusual insights to be gained from the book. What she identifies correctly (in my view) is the "place" of this book in Ackroyd's own literary project-- "the long-term biography of his home city," a project developed both in Ackroyd's novels and in his other biographies. One point in Fitzgerald's review that might well generate some contention is her own description of Blake's marriage to Catherine (this point is *not* stated in Ackroyd's book, but is Fitzgerald's reading): "He had fallen in love with her because she pitied him, which seems to surprise Mr. Ackroyd, but pity was the great 18th century virtue that Blake most earnestly tells us to cherish." I know that does not conform to my own reading of Blake on "pity," and wonder what exactly Fitzgerald means (though she is correct that it is a "virtue" among other 18th century writers). Tom Dillingham (tomdill@womenscol.stephens.edu) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 10:09:19 +0200 From: P Van Schaik To: blake@albion.com Subject: Unidentified subject! -Reply Message-Id: Dear Bert, No, the content came across snarled up, unfortunately. I think that I need to send my appendices to you which were typed on Displaywrite ( "The Yeep") in Acsii. Seth asked for a copy of my work on the Vine, which I tried to transmit on WordPerfect and this also arrived snarled, so I presume this , too, has to be sent on Acsii. Am finding it hard to find someone who can help me as the secretaries in our dept don't know how. Yet, I'm puzzled since it seems that what youyou tried to send to me using Acsii didn't work. I'll get on to Computer Services and find out more. My younger daughter arrived back from Cape Town over the weekend and so have had a houseful of teenagers again - they're a very pleasant bunch of beauties and all like to camp out in one room so there is much carrying of mattresses down the passage. By snail-mail, you may like to use either of these addresses: 25 Frans Oerder Street, Groenkloof, Pretoria 0181, RSA or Dept of English, Unisa, Box 392, Pretoria 0001, RSA. Fax is a possibility as my friend in the office next door has a new Pentium in his office which is supposed to be able to receive Faxes, but I don't yet know how - nor does he. We can find out , if you prefer. All best wishes, Pam ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 18:01:22 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew J Dubuque To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: What's math got to do with it? Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dear Elisa- Sorry for the delay in responding to your recent posting. I'm prepping for trial and have been pretty taxed. Additionally, I took a bit of time composing a response.... Thanks for your kind comments and the reflection which produced them. I learned from the feminists that "the personal is the political" and I believe that Mary Catherine Bateson's recent book Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way provides an ensemble of wonderful narrative responses to your questions. This is not a call to arms; it is rather is a call to disarm. Ms. Bateson, daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, has gratefully acknowledged the contribution of Francisco Varela to the body of her work. This quilt of a book harmoniously compiles narratives of how such a "double vision" "both/and" approach might help reduce suffering. To me her approach seems consistent with two of Blake's Four Zoas. Ms. Bateson poiints out (and I now understand) that we are not either participants or observers in the symphony of our lives. Rather, we are BOTH participants AND observers and effective modulation between the two can help bridge some of the broad cultural and personal differences among us, and enrich our understanding of one another. For example, she describes in some detail how she and her daughter Vanni both participated and observed an Islamic "Feast of Sacrifice" on the outskirts of Tehran, Iran several years ago. As "participant/observers" we can blend with other people possessing dramatically different cultural and social perspectives and be able to meet them and enjoy our commonalities where we can yet retain our integrity and values inevitably highlighted by our differences. This is a wonderful coping tool in a turbulent world. Every morning I look at a little post-it on my mirror that says "participant/observer" and it has helped me become more compassionate and understanding. I had previously tended to be more of an introspective observer in life and had viewed aphorisms such as "Just Do It" and "Life is not Just a Dress Rehearsal" with some skepticism. I have now modified this approach to one that more flexibly shifts to varying respective blends of a "participant/observer." My attempts at humor now have broader appeal as I become more attuned to the cultural and social nuances among us. Elimination of the false "either/or" dichotomy has reduced my suffering and made me a more effective and compassionate person. For example I was recently able to reach out to a homeless man from Fiji who somehow prefers his former South Sea island paradise to a wretched homeless shelter in San Francisco. Additionally, I now can understand the joy and excitement of an unwed 22-year old Mexican friend upon learning of her first pregnancy. Though she may well descend further into a cycle of poverty, anyone who denies the beauty and joy of her upcoming birth necessarily separates themselves from her quintessentially creative act. I can participate in her joy of the fruits of her first union while observing to myself that her dreams of one day attending law school any time soon are diminished. When I first purchased the complete works of William Blake (Keynes!) I was astonished at how mundane many of Blake's letters were. He dickers with Trusler in 1799; he composes a catalog for Turner in 1818; he boasts about his financial condition to his brother in 1803. Blake had such fantastic visions yet was not so immersed in them that he was unable to compose a detailed business letter. He never became so much of a participant in his visions that he mailed his left earlobe to anyone, nor did he contract syphilis in a Tahitian paradise. He effectively modulated his life between both participation and observation. Blake participated so fully yet appropriately to his visions that he brought back both astonishing text and fantastic engravings. But he was enough of an observer to record the particular details... Please indulge me by comparing Blake's balance with what happened to Moses. Moses brought back from Mount Sinai complete instructions for a civil law society including not only the ten commandments but also a wealth of revolutionary guidelines on everything from granting ox owners limited immunity for harm caused by their animals to the proper treatment of legal aliens (Exodus 21:28; 22:21). And this text was good. But Moses intentionally broke the sacred tablets (without permission) and forbade any renderings of what he saw. I am persuaded that inclusive doors (and windows) of perception such as the type facilitated by this "both/and" "participant/observer" metaphorical frame are precisely the type of double vision Blake refers to in his 1802 letter to Thomas Butts: "Now I a fourfold vision see, And a fourfold vision is given to me; 'Tis fourfold in my supreme delight And threefold in soft Beulah's night And twofold Always. May God us keep From single vision and Newton's sleep!" Blake saved us from Newton's sleep; perhaps Blake, Bateson and Varela can save us from cognitivist sleep! Respectfully submitted, Matthew Dubuque virtual@leland.stanford.edu On Fri, 5 Apr 1996, Elisa E. Beshero 814 862-8914 wrote: > Matthew Dubuque, --Thanks for your very interesting reply to my questions that > you sent a while ago. > > > " The biologist Gregory Bateson, writing in A Sacred > Unity, points out that over one-third of the neural pathways connecting > the eye to the visual cortex go FROM the brain TO the eye. In other > words, the brain manufactures a good portion of what we see. Vision is a > creative process. This is consistent with Blake as well. > > In The Embodied Mind, Francisco Varela cites published experiments he > has performed that demonstrate that the perception of color in humans is > different depending on whether they are standing or lying down. > > **But I'm not sure I follow your reasoning here: > > " Because "reason" and "science" have at last caught up with Blake, > our ethical visions must necesarily also change. With Descartes' invention of Cartesian grids (x-y axes) and Newton's invention of differential calculus, the Age of Reason accelerated > previous Manichean tendencies to cleave everything (including morality) > along the lines of "either/or", right/wrong, and black/white dichotomies. > This was upsetting to Blake who knew these to be false dichotomies, as > he shows in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. > > Francisco Varela explains in The Embodied Mind that because we > create much of the world we live in, rather than merely interpreting it > objectively, we are, in the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism responsible for > our own creations. Our task becomes one of reducing the suffering of > others trapped in their false dichotomies. " > > **I like this thought because it sound progressive -- but I'm not sure > whether we can or should or must do something which we could be doing out > of clouded, ego-blinded judgment ourselves. . . I guess I'm always wary of > idealistic talk, but I must admit I'm an idealist myself (both/and), and I'm > curious about _how_ you think we might go about reducing the suffering of > those you percieve as trapped. . . Again, maybe I'm being a little dense, but > I think it might help if you clarified what you mean by the kinds of people who > are trapped in worlds of false dichotomies: If this is a call to moral arms, > can we get a clearer sense of what we're dealing with, and what we should be > doing? Shall we brandish Blake as the new bible to be carried to the four > corners of the unenlightened earth? (Don't ethical imperatives always imply a > right and wrong? not a both/and?) --Elisa > > > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 18:07:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew J Dubuque To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: blake and modern psychology Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Dear William: The Holotropic Mind by Stanislav Grof is a great place to start. It deals with the holographic theory of human memory as well. Lest any unnamed person label that as "drivel", the idea was first proposed at length by Karl Pribram, MD, emeritus professor of neurophysiology at Stanford Medical School in his astonishing book Languages of the Brain. Matthew Dubuque virtual@leland.stanford.edu On Fri, 5 Apr 1996, Thijssen P.J.M. wrote: > Reading "Milton", especially the famous "Vortex" passage, > I became interested in the connections between Blake's work > and research done by present-day psychologists such as > Stanislav Grof. Grof's area is "unusual states of > consciousness". He has developed a taxonomy of different > states of conciousness, based on his experience as a > therapist. Some of his findings are strikingly similar to > images we get from Blake, for example the above-mentioned > Vortex-passage. Is anyone pursuing this? > > I am. Could you give us some references for Grof's work, and especially cany you get us connected to the "taxonomy of different states of consciousness." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 18:13:28 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew J Dubuque To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: BLAKE & THE MODERNS (1) Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Carole- Thanks for the insight. But "spam" in cyberspace?... matthew virtual@leland.stanford.edu On Sun, 7 Apr 1996 CaroleM250@aol.com wrote: > In a message dated 96-04-01 21:59:46 EST, you write: > > >Is this discourse or an Animal House foodfight? > > > >Matthew Dubuque > > > Matthew: > Think about it: an Animal House food fight is more fun, more entertaining > and can lead to more creativity than "mere" discourse. What happened to > IMAGINATION? > Carole Moran > > > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 18:27:00 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew J Dubuque To: blake@albion.com Cc: enghhh@showme.missouri.edu Subject: Re: Golgonooza Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Pam- Gregory was my mentor as an undergrad. I surely don't recall him dismissing Golgonooza (or anything else of Blake for that matter) in a footnote or anywhere else. He always spoke in exalted terms about Blake, as did Gregory's father William (who translated Mendel's pea experiments from the original German and also coined the word "genetics". I'd be quite interested if you could dredge up the cite; I'm pretty familiar with everything Gregory published, and I don't recall it. Please let me know if you can retrieve it... Incidentally, Gregory was from Cambridge (as was his father and grandfather). This is one of the reasons why Queen Elizabeth asked Gregory to review the posthumous work of another Cambridge alum, Sir Isaac Newton. Respectfully submitted... Matthew Dubuque virtual@leland.stanford.edu Tue, 9 Apr 1996, P Van Schaik wrote: > Haven't time to elaborate much, unfortunately, so will be as concise as > possible. I see Golgonooza as a spiritual haven, built by Los in the fallen > world, which he hopes will be a haven for all those oppressed by > Urizenic vision and by his stern moral restraints on their human energies. > Remembering the joys of Jerusalem in Eternity, Los tries to approximate > them in the fallen world. He, having reclaimed his female emanation, is > best suited to forging forms of beauty in which some of the former divine > beauty and `symmetry' of all beings can be restored. These ideas > have emerged from my own doctoral research - I didn't find critics > exceptionally clear on these issues. The late G. Bateson of Oxford, as I recall, scornfully dismissed Golgonooza as an aspect of Blake's > nonsense, if I recall one of his footnotes correctly. > Pam van Schaik, Unisa, RSA > > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 18:38:36 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew J Dubuque To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: Marriage of Heaven and Hell Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Jamison- In my judgment, it is fraught with paradox, contradiction, and delightful humor.... matthew dubuque virtual@leland.stanford.edu On Fri, 12 Apr 1996, Jamison Ashley Oughton wrote: > > I am sorry to ask a question which would probably take many pages, if > not chapters, to answer, but can somebody give me a quick summary of what the > Marriage of Heaven and Hell is about? What are some things for someone, who is > not well acquainted with Blake, to keep in mind while reading it in order to > understand it better? > > Jamison Oughton > > ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Apr 1996 18:45:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew J Dubuque To: blake@albion.com Subject: RE: Golgonooza -Reply -Reply Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Pam -- My first take on this as someone who just passed the bar exam is that the dichotomy "mercy v. justice" describes the difference between Old Testament Mosaic law "An eye for an eye" (justice) vs. the law of mercy and redemption that Christ brought in the New Testament. Wasn't this a central tenet of Swedenborg, that in fact Christ can be interpreted as legal discourse in precisely this fashion. Perhaps I am incorrect, but I thought this legal distinction fueled much of the fires of radical Protestantism.... Am I mistaken here??? I do enjoy your postings.... Matthew Dubuque virtual@leland.stanford.edu On Fri, 12 Apr 1996, P Van Schaik wrote: > Thanks for this very interesting feedback on 18th Century interest in > mercy vs justice. In the book I'm writing on Blake and Kabbalah, this > whole question figures quite large as the radiances on the Tree of Life > are all in harmony until the `roots' of God's Stern Judgment (Din) become > out of balnce with his Abundant Love (Hesed). And, of course, I find > Blake full of rich passages on this score. Perhaps you could > recommend some further reading on the subject of contemporary > interest in the divine opposition of the two to me ? Yours Pam van > Schaik > > -------------------------------- End of blake-d Digest V1996 Issue #35 *************************************