Blake In Our Time

Blake in Our Time explores the work of British poet and artist William Blake in the context of the material culture of his era. In the 1960s, University of Toronto scholar G.E. Bentley, Jr almost singlehandedly shifted the focus of Blake criticism from formalism and symbolism to the materiality that contextualizes Blake's work. Following in the footsteps of Bentley's pioneering scholarship, this collection, richly illustrated, demonstrates that the locus of Blake's work lies in the elements that are historically particular to his place and time. Topics include the impact of the town of Chichester on Blake's imagination, the material processes of Blake's painting, the detection of a Blake forgery, and new biographical materials, using archives and online resources, on Blake's contemporaries, patrons, peers, and friends. Essays on the importance of Blake collections world-wide, on variant printings, and on the heirs of Blake in British painting extend the focus of this remarkable investigation to include chalcography and book history.

Blake's interpretation in words and pictures of the story of Job contains his most mature, concise and direct statement of the theme which is central to all his work, the spiritual and psychological development of a human life. He wrote of man's 'Fall into Division and his Resurrection to Unity'; and all his works have the purpose of illuminating the path which can lead from the state of 'Error' and inner conflict, into which all unavoidably fall, towards one of true vision, wholeness and inward peace. His perception of the nature of 'Error', or delusion, and of what must be faced if it is to be overcome, is conveyed, not only in rational terms, but also through images which touch the less rational levels of the mind, objectifying the conflicting forces which are at work. This makes it possible to think constructively about them and to uncover the delusions instead of simply being possessed by them. The emphasis is on his spiritual and psychological message and its direct relevance to the individual life rather than on 'Blake scholarship'; and that message points the way to a very positive philosophy of life, based on knowing and understanding, not on belief; it also gives a remarkably clear and unified view of the psychological patterns of life, arguably adding a new dimension to our understanding.

With a new afterword by the author

"Contained in the collection are numerous illustrations and steel plate engravings by the great artists of the time."--Franklinbooks.com.

Experience taught William Blake that "Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy." His brilliant achievements as a poet, painter, and engraver brought him public notice, but little income. William Blake in the Desolate Market records how Blake, the most original of all the major English poets, earned his living. G.E. Bentley Jr, the dean of Blake scholars, details the poet's occupations as a commercial engraver, print-seller, teacher, copperplate printer, painter, publisher, and vendor of his own books. In his early career as a commercial engraver, Blake was modestly prosperous, but thereafter his fortunes declined. For his most ambitious commercial designs, he made hundreds of folio designs and scores of engravings, but was paid scarcely more than twenty pounds for two or three years' work. His invention of illuminated printing lost money, and many of his greatest works, such as Jerusalem, were left unsold at his death. He came to believe that his "business is not to gather gold, but to make glorious shapes." William Blake in the Desolate Market is an investigation of Blake's labours to support himself by his arts. The changing prices of his works, his costs and receipts, as well as his patrons and employers are expertly gathered and displayed to show the material side of the artistic career in Britain's Romantic period.

Blake said of his works, 'Tho' I call them Mine I know they are not Mine'. So who owns Blake? Blake has always been more than words on a page. This volume takes Blake 2.0 as an interactive concept, examining digital dissemination of his works and reinvention by artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers across a variety of twentieth-century media.