Newsletter

Call for Papers: Tools of the Sacred, Techniques of the Secular

Dr. Franca Bellarsi of the Université Libre de Bruxelles is seeking proposals for papers "on the preservation and transformation of William Blake’s vision in contemporary English-language verse (from any part of the Anglophone literary community)" for a conference to be held in May 2010. See the full call for papers.

Blake Journal Seeks Submissions

The Blake Journal, an annual publication of the UK's Blake Society, seeks submissions of photography, poetry, articles, fiction, and creative nonfiction for future issues. Our mission is to explore Blake's ideas and work in old and new contexts, transgressing the boundaries of traditional scholarship. Past issues have featured G. E. Bentley, Jr., on the legions of William Blakes in the world, Susanne Sklar on Jerusalem’s embrace, and reviews of Blake-related performances by Patti Smith and Richard Ramsbotham; upcoming issues will feature an exploration of Blake's principles in conjunction with corporate governance and a virtual tour of South Molton Street as it was during Blake's residence at no. 17.
We accept original submissions of up to 5,000 words (for prose). Reviews of Blake-related books, albums, films, plays, and other media are also welcomed. Please submit manuscripts electronically, if possible, at journal@blakesociety.org. Hard copies should be sent to: The Blake Society at St. James's, 197 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LL, UK.
Paige Morgan and Angus Whitehead, editors.

Exhibition at the Tate

In conjunction with its current exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of Blake's exhibition of 1809, Tate Britain is holding a one-day symposium on 25 September.

William Blake's World: "A New Heaven Is Begun"

The Morgan Library and Museum is holding a Blake exhibition from September until January. For more details, see the web site and press release.

Paine Exhibition

An exhibition on Thomas Paine has just opened at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. See more at the web site.

Blake Book

Arianna Antonielli's book Da Blake a Yeats: sistemi simbolici e costruzioni poetiche has just been published online by Firenze University Press.

Blake's Grave

The Blake Society is making plans to mark William Blake's grave with a memorial stone: see the Friends of Blake web site of Carol and Luis Garrido, who researched the exact site of the grave (some yards from the current marker at Bunhill Fields).

Muhlenberg College CD

A studio recording of twelve original instrumental and vocal settings of the Songs, composed by Muhlenberg alumni and first performed at the college's 2008 exhibition Wings of Fire, is now available for $10. Grant Scott and his seminar students curated the exhibition, which is reviewed in the winter issue (vol. 42, no. 3) of the journal. Please contact Grant Scott if you wish to purchase the CD.

Recently Received

A Pilgrim's Progress, by Renchi Bicknell. The author writes, "[the book] relates to a series of etchings I have recently completed and exhibited during Somerset Art Weeks in September. The original prints (12) measure approximately 14" x 21" and are made up of a combination of 92 plates of which 28 are derived from W. Blake's Pilgrim's Progress series."

A card advertising Tally-Ho, Cornelius!, a novel by Carter Kaplan. "Jerry Cornelius comes back to life as a most improbable Anglican theologian in this lively tale of love, God's will and the New World Order." Blake is a character in the book.

Robert N. Essick

The Huntington Library recently published a color reproduction of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience copy E. I served as the volume’s editor and provided a commentary on the poems and designs. In the “Acknowledgments” (177), I state that “we show the images on a background based on the original paper.” In spite of the production team’s best efforts, the paper color in the reproduction does not accurately represent Blake’s paper. The reproduction is too brown, with a slight rosy hue, whereas the original is much whiter, with a slight yellow-gray tint. The one exception is “The Tyger,” plate 40 in copy E. Because of overexposure to sunlight while on exhibition for many years, the paper has turned brown. The reproduction is accurate in this regard. The representation of Blake’s inks and watercolors on all plates is also true to the original.
The following sentence appears on page 12 of the commentary: “We can see outward evidence of such unities in play, a central activity in several Songs of Innocence, because of the way the state of innocence promotes a spontaneous marriage of thought and deed, mind and body.” The sentence should read as follows: “We can see outward evidence of such unities in childhood play, a central activity in several Songs of Innocence, because of the way play promotes a spontaneous marriage of thought and deed, mind and body.”

Project Blake

Matthew Couper, the director of Project Blake, which celebrates Blake's life in Lambeth, has kindly provided the following details of the project's initiatives:
A visual art and sound installation in Centaur Street, near where Blake lived in Lambeth.  This will include large scale mosaics of Blake's work and recordings of his poetry;
A community and education program;
The inaugural William Blake Festival at the Southbank Centre;
A theatre production based on the life of Blake.

Upcoming Reviews

Books, CDs, and exhibitions slated for review in the journal:

Craig Atwood. Community of the Cross: Moravian Piety in Colonial Bethlehem. Pennsylvania State UP, 2004.

G. E. Bentley, Jr. William Blake's Conversations. Edwin Mellen P, 2008.

David Bindman, with Darryl Pinckney. Mind-Forg'd Manacles: William Blake and Slavery. Hayward Gallery Publishing, 2007.

Blake's Shadow. Exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, January to April 2008.

Steve Clark and Masashi Suzuki, eds. The Reception of Blake in the Orient. Continuum, 2006.

Steve Clark and David Worrall, eds. Blake, Nation and Empire. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

Robert N. Essick, ed. William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, 2008.

Glen Robert Gill. Northrop Frye and the Phenomenology of Myth. U of Toronto P, 2006.

Matthew J. A. Green. Visionary Materialism in the Early Works of William Blake: The Intersection of Enthusiasm and Empiricism. Palgrave, 2005.

Mary Lynn Johnson and John E. Grant, eds. Blake's Poetry and Designs. 2nd ed. W. W. Norton & Co., 2008.

Hatsuko Niimi. Blake's Dialogic Texts. Keio UP, 2006.

Mei-Ying Sung. William Blake and the Art of Engraving. Pickering & Chatto, 2009.

Jason Whittaker and David Worrall, eds. Blake, Modernity and Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

William Blake: "I still go on / Till the Heavens and Earth are gone." Exhibition at Tate Britain, November 2007 to June 2008.

Nicholas M. Williams, ed. William Blake Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.

If you would like to submit a Blake-related item for inclusion in this section, please contact Sarah Jones (sjns@mail.rochester.edu).

Last modified: Monday, 05-Oct-2009 14:58:01 EDT