{"title":"Against Self-Organization: Redefining Vitality with William Blake in Jerusalem and The Four Zoas","authors":"Tara Lee","doi":"10.1353/srm.2022.0027","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:At the heart of the eighteenth-century life sciences lay the debate between preformation and epigenesis, two competing theories of generation. This article argues that Blake, incorporating opposing scientific theories into one mythological framework, drew heavily on preformationist ideas and imagery to contrast the eternal forms of spiritual life against material, autopoietic semblances of vitality. For Blake, life was characterised not by generative plasticity but by our inexhaustible capacity for regeneration and rebirth. Ultimately, this article not only situates Blake within a rich tradition of preformationist ideas, but also attempts to re-evaluate contemporary assumptions concerning the Romantic conception of life.","PeriodicalId":44848,"journal":{"name":"STUDIES IN ROMANTICISM","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.4000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"STUDIES IN ROMANTICISM","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/srm.2022.0027","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"N/A","JCRName":"LITERATURE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract:At the heart of the eighteenth-century life sciences lay the debate between preformation and epigenesis, two competing theories of generation. This article argues that Blake, incorporating opposing scientific theories into one mythological framework, drew heavily on preformationist ideas and imagery to contrast the eternal forms of spiritual life against material, autopoietic semblances of vitality. For Blake, life was characterised not by generative plasticity but by our inexhaustible capacity for regeneration and rebirth. Ultimately, this article not only situates Blake within a rich tradition of preformationist ideas, but also attempts to re-evaluate contemporary assumptions concerning the Romantic conception of life.
期刊介绍：
Studies in Romanticism was founded in 1961 by David Bonnell Green at a time when it was still possible to wonder whether "romanticism" was a term worth theorizing (as Morse Peckham deliberated in the first essay of the first number). It seemed that it was, and, ever since, SiR (as it is known to abbreviation) has flourished under a fine succession of editors: Edwin Silverman, W. H. Stevenson, Charles Stone III, Michael Cooke, Morton Palet, and (continuously since 1978) David Wagenknecht. There are other fine journals in which scholars of romanticism feel it necessary to appear - and over the years there are a few important scholars of the period who have not been represented there by important work.
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
分享
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
扫码关注我们
