The body as access to the divine in William Blake’s illuminated art
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/s0103-4014.2021.35103.008Keywords:
Body, Illuminated art, Divine, William Blake, CriticsmAbstract
In all his works, William Blake intensely criticizes both the Enlightenment philosophical thinking in vogue among the cultured classes of 18th-century England, and the understanding of the body as an unclean vessel for the eternal soul, a commom interpretation in Christian traditions. From Blake’s point of view, the bodily experiece, which is presented in his works dually as material and spiritual, provides the only access to the divine. In this paper, I revisit traditional criticism of Blake’s persistent conceptions about the body as the access to the divine. While my essay aims to discuss the politicized convergence of different mystical-religious, philosophical and artistic traditions in Blake’s work, I remain aware of the contradictions produced by such approach.
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