Description
Book SynopsisOpens up readings and ways of reading Milton's epic poem by mapping out the intricacies of its narrative and symbolic designs and by revealing and exploring the deeply allusive texture of its verse. This book shows how Milton radically revises the epic tradition and the Genesis story itself by arguing that it is better to create than destroy.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2015 James Holly Hanford Award, The Milton Society of America One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2014 Shortlisted for the 2015 Christian Gauss Award, Phi Beta Kappa Society "As in a great lecture, Quint never roams far from the language of the poem and as the first half of the book moves through the poem chronologically, it would be a particularly useful guide for advanced undergraduates."--Elizabeth Scott-Baumann, Times Literary Supplement "This learned, groundbreaking study illuminates the intricate narrative patterns that are woven into the fabric of Paradise Lost and demonstrates the poem's deeply allusive relationship to prior epic... This book is necessary reading for Miltonists and scholars interested in the epic tradition. And the clear prose and carefully articulated arguments make it fully accessible and helpful to less experienced readers."--Choice "This learned, carefully pondered, and admirably lucid book combines some of the features of a scholarly monograph with those of a critical overview of Milton's greatest poem."--David Hopkins, Milton Quarterly "For its playful style and learned approach, readers will relish, as I did, the chance to return to originals newly brought to light, to attend to delicious intricacies of text, to quarrel, even, with findings. This is a bravura performance, a deeply learned book that should be read by students and scholars of Renaissance comparative literature, and those interested in classical reception, and will be required reading for Milton scholars and students."--Sharon Achinstein, Renassiance Quarterly "Some books matter for what they say, others for when they say it. Inside Paradise Lost matters for both these reasons, and especially for the latter. It is a timely aesthetic study which will be read and re-read by Milton scholars and students. It will be mined for its learning, discussed, challenged, and enjoyed. Literary studies will be so much the better for it."--Leah Whittington, The Cambridge Quarterly "Quint proves a deeply engaging and illuminating guide to the designs, both large and small, of Milton's epic and his career... Quint has a gift for pithy and apt eloquence... There have been many fine books on Milton's epic and its relation to the long epic tradition, but none finer than Quint's."--Stephen M. Fallon, Modern Philology "David Quint's elegant, learned, and nuanced study of Paradise Lost and its designs contains enormous riches... It is a pleasure to read a critical book so sensitive to the rich poetic texture of Milton's work. Thanks to his substantial knowledge of early modern European literature and classical reception, Quint offers a wealth of fresh readings of the poem's allusions to classical and European epics, as well as to scriptural texts."--David Loewenstein, Modern Language Quarterly
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1.MILTON'S BOOK OF NUMBERS: BOOK 1 AND ITS CATALOG 15 The Shape of the Catalog 17 Moloch and Belial 1 18 Moloch and Saturn 1 19 Moloch and Saturn 2: A Miniature Aeneid 20 Moloch and Belial 2: Libya and Sodom 22 Egypt 23 The Catalog and Pandaemonium 24 The Logic of the Similes in Book 1 26 Raising Devils 29 Appendix: Demonic Swashbucklers 35 2.ULYSSES AND THE DEVILS: THE UNITY OF BOOK 2 38 The Council 41 Moloch and Belial Again: Ajax and Ulysses 42 Mammon and Beelzebub: A Thersites Is Rebuked 48 Satan and the Doloneia 50 Meanwhile, Back in Hell ... 52 Milton's Telegony 55 Satan's Odyssey 58 Whose Odyssey? 59 3.FEAR OF FALLING: ICARUS, PHAETHON, AND LUCRETIUS 63 Icarus and Satan's Fall Through Chaos 64 Virgil and Lucretius 64 Dante, Tasso, Ovid 67 Satan Voyager 71 Phaethon, the Son, and the War in Heaven 75 Flight and Fall 85 A Poetry Against Falling 88 4.LIGHT, VISION, AND THE UNITY OF BOOK 3 93 Structure and Design 96 Universal Blank 99 Vision 106 The Sun 109 The Paradise of Fools 111 Sun Worshippers 114 Poetry and Science 118 5.THE POLITICS OF ENVY 122 Envy and the New Dispensation 124 Angels and Courtiers 132 Brotherhood versus Kingship in Books 11-12 144 6.GETTING WHAT YOU WISH FOR: A READING OF THE FALL153 The Seduction of Eve 156 The Second Adam as Second Eve 169 Adam's Choice: "One flesh" 176 "Not vastly disproportionall" 185 Changing Places 188 Appendix: A Note on the Separation Scene 195 7.REVERSING THE FALL IN BOOK 10 197 Virgilian Coordinates and the End of Satan 200 Creation and Anti-creation 202 Anti-triumphs 203 The Triumphs of the Son 206 Satan's Triumph 208 Adam and the Winds 211 The Recovery of Human Choice 212 Cherishing Eve 218 Dido and Armida; Creusa 219 Pandora 223 The Exposed Matron 229 8.LEAVING EDEN 234 Deconsecrated Earth 236 Good-bye 245 Notes 249 Bibliography 285 Index 301
