'He Who has Suffered You to Impose on Him': Blake, Derrida and the Question of Theory

This article discusses William Blake's relationship with contemporary literary theory, including an overview of Blake scholarship with particular regard to studies informed by deconstruction, feminism and Marxism. It is suggested that not only can Blake's works be viewed through the lens of theory, but they can also be seen to contribute to theoretical debates themselves. The paper argues in favour of a historically sensitive consideration of Blake as a theorist, contextualising his work not only within a larger history of ideas, but also within its social and political context. The final section of the article specifically examines the interconnectedness of key aspects of the works of Blake and Derrida - concerning the messianic, mental war, the friend/enemy dichotomy, the response to the other, and the relationship between the particular and universal - and argues that these cannot be understood without reference to the context in which we read today.