Overview
- Sets out the status of the critical reception of Blake’s visions
- Incorporates scientific research on synaesthesia
- Brings together neuroscience with literary criticism
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine (PLSM)
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Table of contents (9 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book is an inquiry into whether what Blake called his ‘visions’ can be attributed to recognizable perceptual phenomena. The conditions identified include visual hallucinations (some derived from migraine aura), and auditory and visual hallucinations derived from several types of synaesthesia. Over a long period of time, Blake has been celebrated as a ‘visionary,’ yet his ‘visions’ have not been discussed. Worrall draws on an understanding of neuroscience to examine both Blake’s visual art and writings, and discusses the lack of evidence pointing towards psychosis or pathological ill-health, thus questioning the rumours pertaining to Blake’s insanity.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
David Worrall is Emeritus Professor of English at Nottingham Trent University. He has published widely on both William Blake and Eighteenth-Century Theatre.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: William Blake's Visions
Book Subtitle: Art, Hallucinations, Synaesthesia
Authors: David Worrall
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Literature, Science and Medicine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53254-2
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-53253-5Published: 17 May 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-53256-6Due: 20 June 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-53254-2Published: 16 May 2024
Series ISSN: 2634-6435
Series E-ISSN: 2634-6443
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XV, 262
Topics: European Literature, Eighteenth-Century Literature, Cultural Studies