William Blake and His Characters in English-Language Science Fiction and Fantasy of the 1960s–2000s
The article is devoted to the creative reception of William Blake’s heritage in the English-language science fiction and fantasy literature of the 1960s–2000s. Science fiction and fantasy novel authors mainly use Blake’s epic world in one of two directions: either they borrow the very principles of...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Studia Litterarum |
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| Online Access: | https://studlit.ru/images/2025-10-2/05_Serdechnaia.pdf |
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| Summary: | The article is devoted to the creative reception of William Blake’s heritage in the English-language science fiction and fantasy literature of the 1960s–2000s. Science fiction and fantasy novel authors mainly use Blake’s epic world in one of two directions: either they borrow the very principles of the structure of the world, its toponyms, and titan characters, or they use Blake himself as a character. So, Philip José Farmer uses the world and mythology of Blake in his space fantasy (World of Tiers series, 1965–93). Crawford Kilian takes Blake’s toponyms as names for parallel worlds in his The Fall of the Republic (1987). Philip Pullman mentions Blake’s influence on the concept of parallel worlds in his Dark Materials series (1995–2000). Ray Nelson uses Blake as a character in the time travel novel Blake’s Progress (1975), James Ballard — in the erotic-psychedelic mystery The Unlimited Dream Company (1979), and Orson Card — in the alternate universe fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker (1987–2003). Blake’s reception appears most actively either with parallel universes, time-travelling topics, or a mysticalprophetic and psychedelic worldview. |
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| ISSN: | 2500-4247 2541-8564 |