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Overview
The Apocalypse of John is perhaps the most alluring and dangerous text in any scripture. This study looks at English responses to it in political pamphlets and scholarly exegesis, in poetry and preaching and visual art. Those who set out to find enduring meaning in the book failed. Yet in the post-Christian re-writings of Revelation by Shelley and Blake, John's own dynamic of unveiling comes to life, subverting the structures of power and reading built on the visions of Patmos.
Synopsis
The Apocalypse of John is perhaps the most alluring and dangerous text in any scripture. This study looks at English responses to it in political pamphlets and scholarly exegesis, in poetry and preaching and visual art. Those who set out to find enduring meaning in the book failed. Yet in the post-Christian re-writings of Revelation by Shelley and Blake, John's own dynamic of unveiling comes to life, subverting the structures of power and reading built on the visions of Patmos.
Booknews
>From Isaac Newton to Edward Irving, Revelation was often seen in England as the key to history and salvation. In political pamphlets and scholarly exegesis, in poetry and preaching and visual art, responses were lively and varied, and in the French Revolution and in Romanticism the visions of Patmos acquired new immediacy. Yet only with the re-writings of Revelation by Shelley and Blake does John's dynamic of unveiling come to life. Their apocalypses subvert accustomed ways of reading and ordering the world<-->including those found on the Apocalypse itself. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.