Spiritual Transfers: William Blake's Iconographic Treatment of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

• Published in: Bunyan studies no. 16; pp. 32 - 51
• Main Author: Collé-Bak, Nathalie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.01.2012; The International John Bunyan Society
• Subjects: Art and art history; Blake, William (1757-1827); British & Irish literature; Bunyan, John (1628-1688); Bunyan, John (1628-88); English literature; Humanities and Social Sciences; Library and information sciences; Literature
• ISSN: 0954-0970

First and foremost, the title and imprint of the 1941 LEC edition announces: 'The Pilgrim's | Progress | By JOHN BUNYAN 1628-1688 | Illustrated with 29 watercolor paintings by | WILLIAM BLAKE now printed for the first | time. [...]if we are permitted to exclude from consideration the LEC edition, we wonder whether mere has ever been an edition of The Pilgrim 's Progress so pleasant to hold in the hand, so easy and inviting to read, as this Heritage edition. [...] Characters in the pictures point forward and backward and upward in design after design, giving road directions at once to the travellers who are the protagonists and the travellers who are the readers. [...]there is a clear congruence between the tactics of representation and the controlling imagery of the text [...], and this congruence deeply affects the visionary hermeneutics of the series as a whole.28 The 'tactics of representation' implemented by Blake in his drawings are perhaps a means for the visionary poet to faithfully represent, while at the same time freeing himself from 'the controlling imagery of the text'. [...]only the original meaning of the verb 'to illustrate' will give us an idea of Blake's view of his task as an illustrator, that is, as an 'elucidator' and 'illuminator' of text.