Description
Book SynopsisThe life of a brilliant poet, exquisite painter, and rotten salesman.
Trade Review"The effort that produced William Blake in the Desolate Market is that of a lifetime, gathering for the first time, in concentrated fashion, every interaction and transaction Blake had with an often indifferent marketplace and its agents. It will be of serious pragmatic use for the next generation of Blake scholars." Mark Lussier, Department of English, Arizona State University "In an age of digitally diluted research practices, this exemplary volume testified to traditional scholarly rigor and the continuing necessity of historicist methodologies. Essential." - Choice This impressive work of scholarship gathers the accumulated evidence of Blake's lifetime of failure as a businessman. [Citing Blake's] personal proverb, "desire of gain deadens the genius of man," Bentley shows Blake's ever more inventive ways of losing money - [including] engraving on copper plates at a time when the cost of copper rocketed. Blake's stubborn reliance on a material that placed him in direct competition with arms manufacturers is the sort of revelatory detail that will make this a vital supplement for teaching, criticism, and biographical work in the period. - Studies in English Literature 1500-1800
