The devil as muse: Blake, Byron, and the adversary

Abstract

Fred Parker's Devil as Muse: Blake, Byron, and Adversary is based on a provocative observation. After noting that common association of devil as personification of evil is a post-biblical construct, and that scriptures more often refer to Satan in etymological sense of adversary or accuser, Parker then offers new interpretations of selected texts by Mann, Blake, Goethe, Byron and Bukgakov, in which he substitutes recuperated signification of devil as adversary for more conventional interpretation. Parker provides trenchant readings, and by juxtaposing text and context, he is able to infer impact of historical period on creative process, suggesting a correlation between ethics and aesthetics. Missing, however, is an analysis of implications of his observation. In other words, he never explicitly articulates what is achieved by substituting biblical Satan who, as Parker repeatedly stresses, is often viewed as some sort of adjunct of God, for entirely discrete Christian force of evil. Although, as indicated by subtitle, two central chapters focus on Blake and Byron, Parker introduces his study with a prologue, Kierkegaard, Don Giovanni, and Doctor Faustus: Artist as Faust, in which he estab lishes Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus: Life of German Composer Adrian Leverkiihn as Told by a Friend as a touchstone for this study. Itself a modern recension of Faust legend, Doctor Faustus is generally viewed as Mann's attempt, through novel, to come to terms with twentieth-century Ger man history culminating in second world war. Faustian bargain of novel consists of composer Leverkuhn's deliberate decision to expose himself to syphilis in an effort to enhance his creativity. In so doing, he enacts, as Parker's thesis puts it, the notion of a radical tension between ethical and aesthetic—the virtuous philosopher and chameleon poet—through idea of devil as Muse, whereby creative artist is seen as diabolically sponsored or inspired (2). second chapter, The Devil and Poet, establishes historical