Abstract

The process of interpreting William Blake's texts is frustrated by his wilful confounding of signification. In terms of Deleuze and Guattari, Blake's language operates as a "minor literature," as a minor and thus subversive use of a major language, English. Political in nature, Blake's minor literature evidences an overdetermined use of language that explodes signification, calling into question the institutions that establish "meaningful" categories. Blake's minor literature can be identified through two distinct patterns--through its "nomadic" migration and through its "rhizomic" proliferation. ;While many scholars argue that the chronology of Blake's texts traces a developing myth, that chronology merely indicates a continually changing, or shifting, myth. To chart the movement of Blake's characters and ideas is to chart a movement much like that of a nomad; the changes in Blake's ideas map a terrain of evasive maneuvers that seem specifically designed to elude and undermine sedentary signification. For instance, Blake's depictions of his own characters change from book to book: the tragic Urizen of The Book of Urizen differs substantially from the vengeful Urizen from The Book of Ahania or from the satanic Urizen of Milton. As a nomadic writer, Blake refuses stable reference points--his significations shift location in unpredictable ways. ;As a rhizomic writer, Blake overloads the circuitry of his language. As a rhizomic root runs parallel to and beneath the ground, producing multiple off-shoots, so too do Blake's words lie in hidden connection, producing proliferating associations. Some of his single words, produce staggering implications; sometimes single words even produce contradictory significations The word "Urizen," for instance, suggests "Ur-Reason," "You Risen," "Your Eye: Sin," "Our Eyes In," "Horizon," etc. Each of these permutations leads the interpreter down a different path; some paths make others impossible. Rather than creating a polysemous tapestry of associations, rhizomic words like "Urizen" disrupt signification by creating confusion within multivalence, perhaps exposing, paradoxically, the very root of signification