Approaching Apocalypse: Unveiling Revelation in Victorian Writing

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Bucknell University Press, 2007 - Literary Criticism - 228 pages
A great deal of Victorian literature recycles themes, images, and language from apocalyptic literature, in what might be described as an affinity with the genre. With this affinity in mind, Approaching Apocalypse examines certain structuring oppositions that shape apocalyptic literature, and sets out to decode their significance for Victorian writing. They are: human/inhuman, desert/city, veiled/revealed, time/eternal, and this world/other world. The five main chapters of the book each deal with one of these opposites, reading a wide range of Victorian texts, including novels, poems, plays, sermons, and other less easily categorized texts. At the heart of each chapter is an extended reading of one or two texts selected for their particularly telling insights into the relationship between Victorian writing and the Book of Revelation.
 

Contents

III
33
IV
65
V
97
VI
129
VII
160
VIII
190
IX
198
X
213
XI
224
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Page 35 - And I stood upon the sand of the sea; and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Page 35 - And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion : and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Page 35 - And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
Page 35 - And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Page 29 - And, moved thro' life of lower phase, Result in man, be born and think, And act and love, a closer link Betwixt us and the crowning race Of those that, eye to eye, shall look On knowledge; under whose command Is Earth and Earth's, and in their hand Is Nature like an open book; No longer half-akin to brute, For all we thought and loved and did, And hoped, and suffer'd, is but seed Of what in them is flower and fruit; 822 Whereof the man, that with me trod This planet, was a noble type.
Page 35 - And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

About the author (2007)

Kevin Mills, along with Nancy Mills, wrote "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen Cookbook" & "Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room Cookbook." He lives in Manhattan Beach, California.

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