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Making Darkness Light: A Life of John Milton
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About This Book
An innovative and elegant new biography of John Milton from an acclaimed Oxford professor John Milton was once essential reading for visionaries and revolutionaries, from William Blake to Ben Franklin. Now, however, he has become a literary institution—intimidating rather than inspiring. In Making Darkness Light , Oxford professor Joe Moshenska rediscovers a poet whose rich contradictions confound his monumental image. Immersing ourselves in the rhythms and textures of Milton's world, we move from the music of his childhood home to his encounter with Galileo in Florence into his idiosyncratic belief system and his strange, electrifying imagination. Making Darkness Light will change the way we think about Milton, the place of his writings in his life, and his life in history. It is also a book about Milton's place in our about our relationship with the Western canon, about why and how we read, and about what happens when we let someone else's ideas inflect our own.
Reviews
"Moshenska, an Englishman who obtained his PhD at Princeton, allows himself 'impossible questionings and wild imaginings' on his subject, and the incessant intrusions of Moshenska's own presence into this text often feel deeply American ..."
"It is occasionally, in Moshenska's words, 'too full of its author'; Moshenska never misses an opportunity to declare ostentatiously his distaste at the failings of Milton's age, such as the brutality of his rigorous schooling, his chauvinism, his misogyny and even his alleged racism."
"literary biography should be based on a scrupulous, trustworthy close reading of evidence both literary and biographical."
"The results are stunning in their insight, and oddly lyrical."
"avoidance of easy certainties is typical of this subtle, challenging book."
"a strikingly original biography ..."
"An inspired biographical and autobiographical journey."
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