The Satanic Epic
Published on 29. December 2002
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-691-09996-5 (ISBN)
Description
The Satan of "Paradise Lost" has fascinated generations of readers. This book attempts to explain how and why Milton's Satan is so seductive. It reasserts the importance of Satan against those who would minimize the poem's sympathy for the devil and thereby make Milton orthodox. Neil Forsyth argues that William Blake got it right when he called Milton a true poet because he was "of the Devils party" even though he set out "to justify the ways of God to men". In seeking to learn why Satan is so alluring, Forsyth ranges over diverse topics - from the origins of evil and the relevance of witchcraft to the status of the poetic narrator, the epic tradition, the nature of love between the sexes, and 17th-century astronomy. He considers each of these as Milton introduces them: as Satanic subjects. Satan emerges as the main challenge to Christian belief. It is Satan who questions and wonders and denounces. He is the great doubter who gives voice to many of the arguments that Christianity has provoked from within and without.
And by rooting his Satanic reading of Paradise Lost in Biblical and other sources, Forsyth retrieves not only an attractive and heroic Satan but a Milton whose heretic
And by rooting his Satanic reading of Paradise Lost in Biblical and other sources, Forsyth retrieves not only an attractive and heroic Satan but a Milton whose heretic
Reviews / Votes
"Winner of the 2004 Holly Hanford Award, The Milton Society of America" "The Satanic Epic establishes Forsyth as our foremost scholar of Satan as a literary and cultural phenomenon. . . . The Satanic Epic is useful not only as a deft and fascinating reading of the most 'imposing' character in Paradise Lost but as a history of Satanic interpretation from the ancient world onward to Milton's own time. . . . Forsyth's scholarship re-creates and redefines the milieu out of which Milton's works emerged. In the process, it tells a fascinating story. As a result of his work, we are in Forsyth's debt."---Michael Lieb, Milton QuarterlyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
709 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-09996-5 (9780691099965)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
01/2009
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€216.95
Available for download
Person
Neil Forsyth is Professor of English Literature at the University of Lausanne and the author of "The Old Enemy: Satan and the Combat Myth" (Princeton).
Content
PREFACE ix INTRODUCTION 1 (1) "Too full of the Devill" 1 (2) "God is not the devil" 8 (3) The Narrative Theology of "therefore" 12 (4) "The most heroic subject that ever was chosen" 18 Chapter 1: A BRIEF HISTORY OF SATAN 24 (1) The Old Enemy 25 (2) Ancient Myth and Epic 28 (3) Hesiod 30 (4) Apocalypses 35 (5) The satan 37 (6) The New Testament 39 (7) The Early Church 43 (8) Heresy 45 (9) Medieval Heresy 49 (10) Old English Genesis to Chaucer 50 (11) Satan's Rebellion 54 (12) Warfare and Imperialism 56 (13) Elizabethan Drama 60 (14) Politics 62 (15) The Miltonic Moment 64 (16) Subversive Satan 66 (17) Critical Controversies 69 Chapter 2: THE EPIC VOICE 77 (1) Seeing through Satan 77 (2) Hope and Despair 81 (3) "Dark designs" 86 (4) "Devils into Dwarfs" 87 (5) The Critical Need for the Narrator 90 (6) Epic Similes 100 (7) Erring 105 (8) Parliamentary Devils 108 Chapter 3: FOLLOW THE LEADER 114 (1) Chaos 115 (2) Approaching Paradise 124 (3) Satan's Entry into Paradise 129 (4) Paradise 129 (5) Sex 134 Chapter 4: "MYSELF AM HELL" 147 (1) Niphates 148 (2) Faustus and the Abyss 152 (3) God in Satan 155 (4) Hell in Heaven 157 (5) Witchcraft 160 Chapter 5: SATAN'S REBELLION 167 (1) Rebellion in Hesiod 170 (2) God's Creative Word 171 (3) Satan's Theology 176 (4) Sources of Satan's motive 180 (5) Hebrews 183 (6) Psalm 2 185 Chapter 6: THE LANGUAGE OF "EVIL" 188 (1) Classical versus Christian 188 (2) Hate in Heaven 190 (3) The "Problem of Evil" 192 (4) Satan and Ancient Evils 195 (5) Allecto: Hell's Fury 196 (6) The Darkness of Hell 201 (7) "God created evil" 204 (8) The Language of Sin 206 (9) Evil Eve 207 (10) Openings 209 (11) "Perverse" 212 (12) Odium Dei 214 Chapter 7: OF MANS FIRST DIS 217 (1) Dis-- 218 (2) Satan's "dark suggestions" 221 (3) Quibbles 224 (4) Vergil 228 (5) Ovid 229 (6) Dante 233 (7) Difference 235 Chapter 8: HOMER IN MILTON: THE ATTENDANCE MOTIF AND THE GRACES 239 Chapter 9. SATAN TEMPTER 259 (1) Intercourse 259 (2) "Stupidly good" 261 (3) Sexual Serpents 263 (4) Discourse 265 (5) The Seductive Text 268 (6) Commentators 272 (7) "What delight" 277 (8) Satan's Sewers 280 (9) Satanic Verses 282 Chapter 10: "IF THEY WILL HEAR" 285 Chapter 11: AT THE SIGN OF THE DOVE AND THE SERPENT 301 (1) Irenaeus 303 (2) The Wisdom of the Serpent 304 (3) Image 305 (4) The Brazen Serpent 308 (5) The Meaning of History 309 (6) Christ and Serpent 311 12. " f ul l of doubt i stand" : th e structures of parad i se lost 314 conclu s i on : s i g n s p ortentou s 329 (1) Apocalypse 329 (2) "Disastrous twilight" 332 (3) Editors 338 (4) Sun-Son 341 (5) Reading Signs 342 (6) "Good with bad expect to hear" 344 BIBLIOGRAPHY 349 INDEX 371