FRAGMENTATION OF THE NARRATOR


 The foregrounding of
 the narrator in the pro-
 cess of emergent binary
 judgment




















 The insufficiency of the
 narrator's doctrinal
 Lamb of God to abort
 the establishment, in
 Night VIII, of the pre-
 conditions of Nights
 I-VI



 "Urthona"perse does
not exist as a character in
 the narrative proper
until late in Night VIII as
he shoots forth a fibrous
form and gives over his
"strength" to Los in the
 wake of Urizen's
 "stupor" (107:21-32).


are "arms of tender mercy & loving kindness" (99:14) even though Man is
simultaneously reposing on a "Rock"(99:4); or again, the presence of the
"Daughters of Beulah" and "All Beulah" floods the narrative proper with
positive redemptive language (100:8-16). In this latter case, the perception
of Beulah becomes so absorbed with "the Saviour Even Jesus" (100:10)
and the "Divine Vision," which they see no matter which way they look
(100:13-16), that they analyze themselves out of the poem: they cease to
exist in the narrative proper from this point on because they no longer
behold the events of the poem (they repress the poem's world) and behold
instead only their wished-for "Saviour."
 Other judgments, however, seem to arise directly from the narrator's
desperate attempt to acquire perspective control over the unfolding maze
of events, especially his need to keep completely distinct and separate from
one another structurally opposite pairs of characters such as the Lamb of
God/Satan, the Council of God/Synagogue of Satan, and Jerusalem/
Rahab who narratively interconstitute one another. In this context, judg-
ments determining the "redemptive" or "Satanic" status of characters and
events appear as defensive interruptions by the narrator which conspicu-
ously peek through the fabric of the narrative proper. Negative judgments
abound at the appearances of Satan: "Abominable Deadly" (101:37);
"hideous" (104:19); "dishumanizd monstrous" (104:24); "repugnant"
(104:26); "Abhorrd accursed" (104:28); "blasphemous" (104:29);
"wicked" (104:30). Similarly, at the appearance of the Satanic female
Rahab, the narrator vehemently resists her "Delusive Beauty" (105:11) by
accumulating adjectives of revulsion: "By devilish arts abominable unlaw-
ful unutterable / Perpetually vegetating in detestable births" (105:21-22).
AsJerusalem emerges, however, positive imagery emanates: Enitharmon's
"belovd sons & daughters" (103:34); "a Vast family wondrous in beauty &
love" (103:37).
 On the other hand, at points of extreme narrative stress, positive images
or doctrines leap into the narrative as if out of nowhere. In the context of
the first appearance of Satan, Los is said to be inspired by "the holy Spirit"
(101:39), the only time this term appears in the poem. After Satan and the
Lamb of God are born into the narrative proper as aspects of the same
event (104:19-35), the narrator asserts a doctrine that seems intended to
relieve narrative tension and disentangle interconnections (104:36-38) but
is significantly undermined when events do not materialize as the narrator
prophesies. Again, in the midst of the description of the "False Feminine
Counterpart," the narrator asserts a doctrine (105:17-19) that purports to
justify the existence of this cruel beauty; this doctrine, however, not only
implicates "Eden" in responsibility for her tempting existence but also
implies massive restrictions on the redemptive forces themselves. Or
again, when the massive network of events of Night VIII has produced
Urizen's dragon form, and Urizen's "stony stupor" has infiltrated Ur-
thona and Tharmas, who immediately begin to re-enact earlier events
(Urthona shoots forth a fibrous form and Tharmas begins his cyclic