The Devil As Muse : Blake, Byron, and the Adversary
by
Fred Parker
Book Details
Format
Hardback or Cased Book
Book Series
The Making of the Christian Imagination
ISBN-10
1602582696
ISBN-13
9781602582699
Publisher
Baylor University Press
Imprint
Baylor University Press
Country of Manufacture
US
Country of Publication
GB
Publication Date
Feb 1st, 2011
Print length
215 Pages
Weight
436 grams
Dimensions
16.20 x 23.60 x 1.90 cms
Ksh 5,050.00
Temporarily out of stock, due soon
0 in stock
Delivery Location
Delivery fee: Select location
Secure
Quality
Fast
Does the Devil lie at the heart of the creative process? In The Devil as Muse, Fred Parker offers an entirely fresh reflection on the age-old question, echoing William Blake's famous statement: “the true poet is of the Devil's party”.
Does the Devil lie at the heart of the creative process? In The Devil as Muse, Fred Parker offers an entirely fresh reflection on the age-old question, echoing William Blake's famous statement: ""the true poet is of the Devil's party.""
Expertly examining three literary interpretations of the Devil and his influence upon the artist--Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost, the Mephistopheles of Goethe's Faust, and the one who offers daimonic creativity in Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus--Parker unveils a radical tension between the ethical and the aesthetic. While the Devil is the artist's necessary collaborator and liberating muse, from an ethical standpoint the price paid for such creativity is nothing less damnable than the Faustian pact--and the artist who is creative in that way is seen as accursed, alienated, morally disturbing. In their own different ways, Parker shows, Blake, Byron, and Mann all reflect and acknowledge that tension in their work, and model ways to resolve it through their writing.
Linking these literary conceptions with scholarship on the genesis of the historical conception of the Devil and recent work on the role of ""otherness"" in creativity, Parker insightfully suggests how creative literature can feel its way back along the processes--both theological and psychological--that lie behind such constructions of the Adversary.
Expertly examining three literary interpretations of the Devil and his influence upon the artist--Milton's Satan in Paradise Lost, the Mephistopheles of Goethe's Faust, and the one who offers daimonic creativity in Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus--Parker unveils a radical tension between the ethical and the aesthetic. While the Devil is the artist's necessary collaborator and liberating muse, from an ethical standpoint the price paid for such creativity is nothing less damnable than the Faustian pact--and the artist who is creative in that way is seen as accursed, alienated, morally disturbing. In their own different ways, Parker shows, Blake, Byron, and Mann all reflect and acknowledge that tension in their work, and model ways to resolve it through their writing.
Linking these literary conceptions with scholarship on the genesis of the historical conception of the Devil and recent work on the role of ""otherness"" in creativity, Parker insightfully suggests how creative literature can feel its way back along the processes--both theological and psychological--that lie behind such constructions of the Adversary.
Get The Devil As Muse by at the best price and quality guaranteed only at Werezi Africa's largest book ecommerce store. The book was published by Baylor University Press and it has pages.
