Blake 2.0: Introduction

Abstract

What precisely constitutes Blakean ‘mineness’? Is it an act of identification or possession, or even, somewhat paradoxically, disavowal? As Galen Strawson has recently observed, the self may be conceived as a phenomenological mineness, but this bears little relation to traditional, metaphysical conceptions of selfhood. These are also difficult to reconcile with contemporary debate on the implications of technology, specifically digitalization, to which the title of this volume alludes. The dissemination of Blake’s work across a wide variety of media across the twentieth century, and the possibilities raised by a new generation of more decentralized, interactive Web 2.0 software, create a variety of virtual selves for Blake, his works, and his audience, currently being explored, for example, via elements of the Blake 2.0 Cloud. Such selves, like Blake’s Cloud in The Book of Thel, may ‘vanish’ and be ‘seen no more’, or ‘pass away … to tenfold life’ (3:9-11, E5). The reinventions of twentieth-century Blake, as well as his ongoing regeneration within Web 2.0 media, require a more sustained examination of what this second life entails - Blake 2.0 alongside Blake 1.0.