William Blake is one of the most important influences on twentieth-century literature. This is true both for Modernism and for postmodernism. Increasingly, he seems like one of the most 'indulged' artists of the past. This study asks why, suggesting that he is a figure central to the Modernist re-definition of past art.

William Blake is one of the most important influences on twentieth-century literature. This is true both for Modernism and for postmodernism. Increasingly, he seems like one of the most 'indulged' artists of the past. This study will ask why, suggesting that he is a figure central to the Modernist re-definition of past art. He also appears to be an acceptable sage for postmodernists, because he can be associated with an opposition to authority without imposing one version of his own mythology.

Introduction: Blake, Between Romanticism, Modernism and Postmodernism - Zoas and Moods: Myth and Aspects of the Mind in
Blake and Yeats - Eliot between Blake and Yeats - Blake and
Oppositional Identity in Yeats, Auden and Dylan Thomas - Blake and Joyce - Deposits and Rehearsals: Repetition and Redemption in The Anathemata of David Jones: A Comparison
and Contrast with Blake - Blake, Postmodernity and Postmodernism - Joyce Carey: Getting It From the Horse's Mouth - Two
American Disciples of Blake: Robert Duncan and Allen Ginsberg - Postmodern Myths and Lies: Iain Sinclair and Angela Carter - Salman Rushdie, Myth and Postcolonial Romanticism - Appendix: Iain Sinclair on Blake - Bibliography - Index