Contents


 List of Charts viii
 Foreword ix
 Preliminary Remarks xi
 Textual Note xxiv
 Acknowledgements xxv

PRELUDIUM: UNBINDING NEWTONIAN NARRATIVE 1

 INTRODUCTION: ALTERING SINGLE VISION 3
 NARRATIVE PROCESSES AND TEXTUAL FEATURES OF BLAKE'S FOUR ZOAS 6
 NARRATIVE IMPLICATIONS OF THE CIRCLE OF DESTINY EPISODE 6
 Perspective Transformation 6
 Aspectual Interconnection 7
 TEXTUAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE CIRCLE OF DESTINY EPISODE 7
 THE FOUR ZOAS NARRATIVE AND TEXT RECONSIDERED 8
 THE NARRATIVE FIELD 8
 Perspective Transformation 8
 Aspectual Interconnection: The "Fall" as Privileged Event and Pretext 10
 THE DIALECTIC OF THE TEXT 12
 Text as Flight 12
 Text as Woven Pattern or Schema 16
 REFLECTIONS ON THE ONTOLOGY OF READING THE FOUR ZOAS 19

REGION A: PERSPECTIVE INITIATION IN "NIGHT THE FIRST" 23

 INTRODUCTION: SUBVERTING ORIGIN AND IDENTITY 25
 EMBEDDED STRUCTURES IN NIGHT I 32
 FIRST PRIMARY BRACKET: THARMAS/ENION 40
 THARMAS/ENION PHASE I: VERBAL INTERCHANGE 43
 PHASE II: RE-ENACTMENTS AND TRANSITIONS 51
 FIRST EMBEDDED STRUCTURE: LOS/ENITHARMON 58
 Los/Enitharmon: First Phase 58
 Los/Enitharmon: Transition 59
 Los/Enitharmon: Second Phase 60
 FIRST SUB-EMBEDDED STRUCTURE: THE ENITHARMON/LOS INTERPOLATED VISIONS 62
 Interpolated Visions: Sub-Embedded Structure I:
 Enitharmon's "Song of Vala" 63
 Interpolated Visions: Sub-Embedded Structure II: Los's Response 66
 Los/Enitharmon: Third Phase: Urizen/Los/Enitharmon 68
 Los/Enitharmon: Second Sub-Embedded Structure: The "Feast" 75
 The Feast: Sub-Embedded Phase: "The Nuptial Song" 81
 RE-SURFACING OF THE THARMAS/ENION BRACKET 92
 SECOND PRIMARY BRACKET: "ETERNITY" 94
 ETERNITY BRACKET: FIRST EMBEDDED STRUCTURE: THE MESSENGERS FROM BEULAH REPORT 98