NEW REVIEW I read it again !! finished again perhaps. God what a genius there is so much to love here if only we had a little more time. Up to 5 stars. Ignore silliness below.




4.5 It's been a few years since I last read this and it was a struggle then. In a sense, it might be a book better thought about than read - it seems one of those rare texts improved by its own contradictions and inconsistencies (Hamlet also comes to mind there). But I had a much better experience this time around! Big love for words such as 'glistered' and 'glozing'.

It's easy to read Paradise Lost as an unapologetically misogynistic epic, and I'm not interested in defending Milton there. But in my readings of Butler lately, and mixing with Beauvoir, I think there's more to be found. While other epics may read more smoothly, I think PL is unrivalled in its presentation of the body as an entity that blurs the physical and metaphysical. When Milton interpolates a scene wherein Eve first encounters the Other through her own reflection, it appears that he condemns her for vanity. But with Beauvoir, I think this scene is transformed into a moment of spectacular pathos.

Beyond the tedious clichés of phallic symbols and Œdipus complexes, there is a lot Freud can lend to this text. Investigating the conflicts between drives - love and death - proved deeply fruitful (!)

So I'm coming round to Paradise Lost. It's kind of a difficult beast to love, but I won't give up hope.