Résumés
Abstract
In William Blake’s The Book of Ahania (1795), the figure Fuzon is killed by his tyrant father Urizen before being sacrificed in a pseudo-Crucifixion scene. While the Christian iconography is apparent, a closer textual reading of his subsequent deformity reveals that this scene also has roots in the British eighteenth-century Northern antiquarianism, a literary and artistic movement interested in the ancient North. In his poetry, Blake’s engagement with Northern antiquarianism is visible in disabled and deformed figures that embody both liberation from and repression of State, religion, and nation. In The Book of Ahania, Blake examines the tension between Norse primitive warmongering and Gothic liberty as the foundations of a body politic—that of Urizen’s oppressive State Religion—where Fuzon’s death and deformity extends beyond Christological analogues to become a type of Odinic sacrifice. In this poem, I suggest that Fuzon transforms into a composite image of Odin-as-chieftain who seeks liberation from Rome, and Odin-as-priest.
Keywords:
- William Blake,
- reception of Old Norse mythology,
- Disability studies,
- eighteenth century,
- Eddic poetry
Résumé
Dans The Book of Ahania (1795) de William Blake, le personnage de Fuzon est tué par son père tyrannique, Urizen, avant d’être sacrifié dans une scène pseudo-crucifixion. Si l’iconographie chrétienne est évidente, une lecture plus attentive de son difformité subséquent dans le texte révèle que cette scène trouve également ses racines dans l’antiquarianisme nordique britannique du XVIIIe siècle, un mouvement littéraire et artistique qui s’intéressait au Nord antique. Dans sa poésie, l’engagement de Blake envers l’antiquarianisme nordique est visible dans les personnages handicapés et difformes qui incarnent à la fois la libération et la répression de l’État, de la religion et de la nation. Dans The Book of Ahania, Blake examine la tension entre le bellicisme primitif nordique et la liberté gothique comme fondements d’un corps politique – celui de la religion d’État oppressive d’Urizen – où la mort et la difformité de Fuzon dépassent les analogies christologiques pour devenir une sorte de sacrifice odinique. Je suggère que Fuzon se transforme dans ce poème en une image composite d’Odin en tant que chef de clan cherchant à se libérer de Rome, et d’Odin en tant que prêtre.
Parties annexes
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