The Unholy Bible: Blake, Jung, and the Collective Unconscious
In order to suggest the strengths and weaknesses of this book, let me focus on the central issue of Singer's study, the Blakean "contraries," which are explored primarily through her analysis of "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell." Singer discusses the issue in Jungian terms. She claims that Blake's marriage is the primary source for his theory of contraries-an interesting enough thesis, except that we don't know exactly what sort of relationship Blake had with his wife. Thus Singer's further speculations about this relationship have a hollow ring, since they remain simply speculation. Singer views Blake as a man constantly seeking a balance between the two opposing forces in his life, variously identified as reason / energy, male / female, devil / god, devourer/ prolific; she claims that in "The Marriage" he is moving towards such a balance, but is himself caught on one side of this duality. Leaving the biographical component of this argument aside, it is still questionable that we can assume (as Singer does) that the "voice of the devil" in this poem is necessarily Blake's own voice. Yet the book remains interesting and insightful. Singer sees the artist engaged with his own redemption. She also emphasizes the way the artist maintains the internal tension between the opposites in order to create. "The creative impulse," she concludes, "is an urge in man to come into a productive relationship with this Other." Clearly she's right about the importance of these issues for Blake: all of his creative life he worked with opposites, and in particular saw things in terms of male and female. He struggled to overcome what he saw as a false duality, a need to choose between these terms (such as good/ evil), but also recognized (as Singer comments) that a "marriage" is not simply a blending into one - the tension remains, and must remain: "opposition is true friendship."Developing this idea from a psychological perspective is valuable indeed; those interested in this concept of contraries, especially as it defines the way we perceive "male" and "female" (and not only in Blake and Jung), would be advised to read Singer's book. --FromIndependent Publisher