PRELIMINARY REMARKS


 Page Headings
 With very few exceptions, each page of Narrative Unbound has its own unique name. These
names always refer to the two-page spread of Narrative Unbound standing before the reader at any
moment in the reading process. In general, the left-hand heading gives the reader immediate
access to the line references that define the local and global boundaries of the Four Zoas text being
discussed, while the right-hand heading gives the reader a condensed point of reference for the
analysis of the lines specified in the left-hand page heading. Like the marginal glosses, the
running heads have acquired a life of their own, and thus a version or aspect of the book can be
constructed by simply reading the page headings. They form a kind of supra-text, a skeletal
framework for the argument of the book.


 The Graphics
 The graphics are visual models that picture the structural movement of the narrative in each
Night of The Four Zoas by reference to a simultaneous, synchronous pattern that otherwise could
not be directly experienced by the reader. Each graphic display provides the reader with a way of
thinking about where s/he is situated linearly in the process of reading. These have proved so
useful as teaching devices that it seemed appropriate to incorporate them into Narrative Unbound.
Except for Nights I and IX, however, the graphics are not an essential part of the argument of the
book but are situated at the close of the analysis of each Night to act as retroactive perspectives on
the reader's linear journey. Although the descriptive names given to Nights II-VI in the text of
Narrative Unbound are taken from the names of the structural maps for those Nights, David
Erdman's suggestion that the charts be published separately indicates the degree to which they are
independent of the argument of this book.


 Endnotes
 The endnotes primarily serve the function of extended marginal glosses. Where alternative or
peripheral perspectives would intrude on the text proper or be too long to be inserted in the
margins, they have been relegated to notes. In some cases, endnotes contain more technical
discussions of textual differences between the 1970 and 1982 Erdman editions of Blake's poetry.


 Absence of a Separate Index
 No index for this book has been deemed feasible, since virtually all nominalizations are
present on most pages, and the main text contains almost no reference to extratextual matters.
Categories that would make sense for an index to Narrative Unbound-such as "characters absent
from event x," or "transformations ofy by z"--would generate an index competitive in length
with the book itself, would take a very long time to compile, and, in addition, would probably
not be usable. Therefore, the functions normally served by conventional indexes have been
subsumed by marginalia, page headings, and endnotes


 Bibliography
 The bibliography contains works actually cited in the text of Narrative Unbound, works used
for epigraphs, and a small selection of works not actually cited but conceptually and methodolog-
ically relevant.


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