Narrative Unbound

by Ault, Donald; George, Quasha; Quasha, George

• ISBN13: 9781886449756
• ISBN10: 1886449759
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-01-30
• Publisher: Barrytown / Station Hill Pr

Summary

This first full-scale interpretation of Blake's most complex poetic prophecy, The Four Zoas, argues that the poem's famous difficulty is intrinsic to the poet's transformative narrative strategies. Already highly influential in Blake studies, Ault's book is a line-by-line guide to the poem and an inquiry into a core issue of contemporary poetics: how do altered processes of reading restructure consciousness?

Table of Contents

List of Charts	viii
Foreword	ix
Preliminary Remarks	xi
Textual Note	xxiv
Acknowledgements	xxv
PRELUDIUM: UNBINDING NEWTONIAN NARRATIVE	1	(22)
Introduction: Altering Single Vision	3	(3)
Narrative Processes and Textual Features of Blake's Four Zoas	6	(2)
Narrative Implications of the Circle of Destiny Episode	6	(1)
Perspective Transformation	6	(1)
Aspectual Interconnection	7	(1)
Textual Implications of the Circle of Destiny Episode	7	(1)
The Four Zoas Narrative and Text Reconsidered	8	(11)
The Narrative Field	8	(4)
Perspective Transformation	8	(2)
Aspectual Interconnection: The ``Fall'' as Privileged Event and Pretext	10	(2)
The Dialectic of the Text	12	(7)
Text as Flight	12	(4)
Text as Woven Pattern or Schema	16	(3)
Reflections on the Ontology of Reading The Four Zoas	19	(4)
REGION A: PERSPECTIVE INITIATION IN ``NIGHT THE FIRST''	23	(88)
Introduction: Subverting Origin and Identity	25	(7)
Embedded Structures in Night I	32	(8)
First Primary Bracket: Tharmas/Enion	40	(52)
Tharmas/Enion Phase I: Verbal Interchange	43	(8)
Phase II: Re-Enactments and Transitions	51	(7)
First Embedded Structure: Los/Enitharmon	58	(4)
Los/Enitharmon: First Phase	58	(1)
Los/Enitharmon: Transition	59	(1)
Los/Enitharmon: Second Phase	60	(2)
First Sub-Embedded Structure: The Enitharmon/Los Interpolated Visions	62	(30)
Interpolated Visions: Sub-Embedded Structure I: Enitharmon's ``Song of Vala''	63	(3)
Interpolated Visions: Sub-Embedded Structure II: Los's Response	66	(2)
Los/Enitharmon: Third Phase: Urizen/Los/Enitharmon	68	(7)
Los/Enitharmon: Second Sub-Embedded Structure: The ``Feast''	75	(6)
The Feast: Sub-Embedded Phase: ``The Nuptial Song''	81	(11)
Re-Surfacing of the tharmas/Enion Bracket	92	(2)
Second Primary Bracket: ``Eternity''	94	(15)
Eternity Bracket: First Embedded Structure: The Messengers from Beulah Report	98	(11)
Eternity Bracket: Second Embedded Structure: The Daughters of Beulah Spread a Couch	109	(1)
Ironic Coda	109	(2)
REGION B: FICTIONS OF LINEAR CAUSALITY NIGHTS II-VI	111	(128)
Introduction: Mapping Nights II-VI	113	(2)
Hierarchical Discontinuitty in Night the [Second]	115	(25)
Narrative Involution in Night the Third	140	(22)
Telescopic Reduction in Night the Fourth	162	(22)
Progressive Re-Enactment in Night the Fifth	184	(29)
Retrogressive Re-Enactment in Night the Sixth	213	(26)
REGION C: NARRATIVE BRANCHING AND CONVERGENCE IN NIGHTS VIIA, VIIB, AND VIII	239	(108)
Introduction: Anatomizing the Narrative Field	241	(3)
Overlapping Narrative Elements	244	(15)
The Tree of Mystery	244	(6)
Weaving/Fabricating Embodied Forms	250	(5)
War	255	(4)
The Re-Surfacing of Suppressed Narrative Elements	259	(28)
ORC	259	(10)
The Lamb of God and Satan	269	(12)
Jerusalem	281	(6)
New Narrative Elements	287	(40)
The Shadow of Enitharmon	288	(32)
Perceptual Structures of the Shadow	288	(10)
Narrative Consequences of the Shadow	298	(22)
Rahab and the Synagogue of Satan	320	(7)
The Structures of Nights VIIA, VIIB, and VIII	327	(20)
Night VIIA	328	(4)
Night VIIB	332	(1)
Night VIII	333	(14)
REGION D: COUNTER-APOCALYPTIC RESISTANCES IN NIGHT IX	347	(122)
Preludium: Reading Night the Ninth Subversively	349	(1)
Introduction: The Crisis of Entry into Night the Ninth	349	(8)
Possible Resolution through Male/Female Union	354	(2)
Possible Resolution through Redemptive Figures	356	(1)
The Structures of Night IX	357	(1)
Preliminary Analysis of the Structural Interferences in Night IX	358	(16)
Structurally Eccentric Placement of Events	360	(1)
The Tharmas/Enion Embrace	360	(1)
Linear Override Plots	361	(10)
The Trumpet Sounding	361	(2)
The Harvest	363	(1)
Consuming, Consummation, Flames, and Fires	363	(2)
The Feast	365	(2)
The Luvah/Vala Plot	367	(4)
Pseudo-Symmetrical Structures	371	(1)
Repetitions	372	(1)
Discontinuous Break Throughs of Apocalyptic Imagery	372	(1)
Doctrinal Intrusions	373	(1)
A Linear-Temporal Unfolding of Night IX	374	(92)
Bracket 1, Phase 1 Opens (117:1): Los/Urthona	374	(8)
Bracket 1, Phase 1 is Suppressed (119:23): Los/Urthona	382	(1)
Bracket 2, Phase 1 Opens (119:24): Eternal Man	382	(10)
Bracket 2, Phase 1 is Suppressed (122:25): Eternal Man	392	(1)
Bracket 3, Phase 1 Opens (122:26): Urizen	392	(7)
Bracket 3, Phase 1 is Suppressed (125:14): Urizen	399	(1)
Bracket 4, Phase 1 Opens (125:15): The Feast	399	(3)
Bracket 4, Phase 1 is Suppressed (126:17): The Feast	402	(1)
Bracket 5, Phase 1 Opens (126:18): Luvah/Vala	402	(6)
Bracket 5, Phase 1 is Suppressed (130:3): Luvah and Vala	408	(1)
Bracket 6, Phase 1 Opens (130:4): Tharmas and Enion As Children	408	(1)
Bracket 6, Phase 1 Closes (130:13): Tharmas and Enion As Children	408	(1)
Bracket 6, Phase 2 Opens (130:14): Tharmas and Enion As Children	408	(3)
Bracket 6, Phase 2 Closes (130:19): Tharmas and Enion As Children	411	(1)
Bracket 5, Phase 2 Opens (130:20): Luvah and Vala	411	(1)
Bracket 5, Phase 2 Closes (130:21): Luvah and Vala	411	(1)
Bracket 4, Phase 2 Opens (131:22): The Feast	411	(16)
Bracket 4, Phase 2 Closes (133:33): The Feast	427	(1)
Bracket 3, Phase 2 Opens (134:1): Urizen	427	(1)
Bracket 3, Phase 2 Closes (134:1): Urizen	427	(1)
Bracket 2, Phase 1 Opens (134:2): Eternal Man	427	(14)
Bracket 2, Phase 2 Closes (137:33) Eternal Man	441	(1)
Bracket 1, Phase 2 Opens (137:34): Los/Urthona	441	(1)
Bracket 1, Phase 2 Opens (137:34): Los/Urthona	441	(24)
Bracket 1, Phase 1 Closes (139:10): Los/Urthona	465	(1)
End of the Dream	466	(3)
Postscript on The Four Zoas as Visual Text	469	(4)
List of Illustrations	473	(2)
Appendix: On the Embedding of Night VIIB in Night VIIA	475	(6)
Notes	481	(31)
Key to the Epigraphs	512	(1)
Bibliography	513