Blake, nationalism, and the politics of alienation

William Blake s reputation as a staunch individualist is based in large measure on his repeated attacks on institutions and belief systems that constrain the individual s imagination. Blake, however, rarely represents isolation positively, suggesting that the individual s absolute freedom from communal pressures is not the ideal. Instead, as Julia Wright argues in her award-winning study "Blake, Nationalism, and the Politics of Alienation," Blake s concern lies with the kind of community that is being established. Moreover, writing at the moment of the emergence of modern nationalism, Blake reveals a concern with the national community in particular. Beginning with a discussion of the priority of national narrative in late-eighteenth-century art theory and antiquarianism, "Blake, Nationalism, and the Politics of Alienation" traces its relevance in Blake s printed works, from The Poetical Sketches and the Lambeth Prophecies to The Laocoon. Professor Wright then turns to Europe, America, and Visions of the Daughters of Albion, focusing on Blake s portrayals of particular characters alienation from the groups and ideologies represented in the texts. The book closes by arguing that Blake s major printed works, Milton and Jerusalem, are explicit and extensive engagements with the question of nation and empire. Although nationalism existed in various forms during the Romantic period, Blake s contemporaries generally assumed that nations should progress continuously, producing a clear narrative line from an auspicious origin to the perfect fulfillment of that promise. Wright argues that these mutually determining constructs of national character and national narrative inform Blake s handling of the problem of the individual-within-a-community."