Imprint
- W&N
Biography: literary, Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 , Literary studies: poetry & poets, Social & cultural history, Spirituality & religious experience, History of ideas
A wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy and religion to better understand the mercurial genius William Blake in the twenty-first century
'Fascinating' The Times
'Blakeian in its singularity' New Statesman
'A wonderful adventure' Irish Times
'Rich, complex and original' Tom Holland
'A crisp, ambitious and thoroughly contemporary introduction' Times Literary Supplement
Poet, artist, visionary and author of the unofficial English national anthem 'Jerusalem', William Blake is an archetypal misunderstood genius. In this radical new biography, we return to a world of riots, revolutions and radicals, discuss movements from the Levellers of the sixteenth century to the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, and explore the latest discoveries in neurobiology, quantum physics and comparative religion to look afresh at Blake's life and work - and, crucially, his mind. Taking the reader on wild detours into unfamiliar territory, John Higgs places the bewildering eccentricities of a most singular artist into context and shows us how Blake can help us better understand ourselves.
Praise for William Blake vs the World
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Lets in a glittering stream of revelatory light . . . Higgs's prose has a diamond-hard clarity. Before long you will find you are examining yourself as much as you are examining Blake . . . Fascinating - THE TIMES
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Rich, complex and original, Higgs takes us to places that even Blake himself might have found surprising
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Laudable . . . We cannot understand Blake without understanding what he meant by imagination or taking seriously his visions. Higgs does this admirably, by exploring what we know about the mind while maintaining, for our secular times, the sacred quality of Blake's attention - SPECTATOR
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Absolutely wonderful! This book managed to make Blake's mind and mythology understandable to me at last - for that I am truly grateful
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