The last volumes in the series of "William Blake's Illuminated Books" reveal the writer and artist as a prophet driven by a sense of apocalyptic urgency. Blake conceived and executed "The Continental Prophecies" and "The Urizen Books" in the early 1790s, capturing the intellectual and spiritual turmoil of the American and French revolutions. Here, for the first time, the general reader will encounter Blake's most intense vision in reproductions that do justice to the originals, accompanied by texts, comprehensive notes and commentaries, and detailed interpretations of the designs. "The Continental Prophecies", which comprises "America", "Europe", and "The Song of Los", presents Blake's critical reckoning with the history of his own times. Marked by a particularly close integration of word and image, the books form a mythical plot from historical events and criticize the intricate structure of social oppression that the author attributes to organized state religion. Each of the three books attempts to point a way toward the process of millennial liberation.
These volumes complete the six-part series of "William Blake's Illuminated Books", including "Jerusalem", "Songs of Innocence and of Experience" (now available in paperback), "The Early Illuminated Books", and "Milton, A Poem", all published by Princeton University Press.
- ISBN10 0691001456
- ISBN13 9780691001456
- Publish Date 24 September 1998 (first published 23 July 1995)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 23 July 2013
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Princeton University Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 368
- Language English
- URL https://press.princeton.edu/titles/5734.html