Remembering and Repeating: Biblical Creation in Paradise Lost

by Regina M. Schwartz

Overview

As a reinterpretation of Milton, this study engages the ideas of Freud, Nietzsche, and Derrida. However, the author derives her thesis from Milton's own debt to ancient Biblical sources. The Bible, says Schwartz, offers Milton a pattern of repeated beginnings that informs his depiction of the universe and characterizes his poetic and interpretative processes. This original reading of the Bible enables a powerful rereading of Paradise Lost.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521343572
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/09/1989
Pages:	156
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.59(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. 'And the sea was no more': chaos vs. creation; 2. 'Secret gaze or open admiration': the invitation to origins; 3. 'Remember and tell over': creation in sacred song; 4. 'Yet once more': re-creation, repetition, and return; Notes; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"An original study of a neglected aspect of the poem."—Louis Martz

"...a brilliant study that quiety but powerfully recharacterizes many of the contexts of discussion in Milton critism. Particularly noteworthy is Schwartz's ability to introduce advanced theoretical perspectives without ever taking the focus of attention away from the dynamics and problematics of Milton's poem."—Stanley Fish

"...a fascinating and provocative book." Virginia R. Mollenkott, Christianity and Literature

"In a time when much of literary criticism is steeped in a mimicry of fashionable -isms, it is both refreshing and enlightening to see an insightful study such as Remembering and Repeating: Biblical Creation in Paradise Lost." David Patterson, Milton Quarterly

From the Publisher