NEWSLETTER
IO SPECIAL ISSUE
Jim Bogan and Fred Goss are editing a special Blake issue of IO which they have announced as follows.
Greetings: Almost 200 years ago William Blake engraved these prophetic words: “Rouze up, O Young Men of the New Age! set your foreheads against the ignorant Hirelings; For we have Hirelings in the Camp, the Court, and the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress Mental and prolong Corporeal War.” In response to Blake’s summons, number 29 of the IO series will be a Blake issue which will gather some of the sparks of inspiration that are flying from Los’ hammer in this new age. We are interested in any work that makes use of energies sympathetically awakened by contact with Blake’s works/spirit. The meeting might be as direct as Ginsberg’s visitation by Blake in Harlem or as indirect, say, as Snyder’s “It” arising from the reading of a Blake poem during a storm.
The traditional concerns of IO may certainly be focused on Blake: cabala, alchemy, astrology, anthropology, psychology, shamanism, intuitive scholarship. We are looking for prose, verse, and black/white graphics. Forms may include: poems, creative essays, aphorisms, meditations, inspired scholarship beyond the MLA mold, speculations, jokes, maps, charts, dreams, visions, experiences when reading Blake aloud—PRIMARY RESPONSES. A second emphasis of the issue will be works that provide ways into Blake for those who would like guides high in clarity and low in jive. Subjects of interest here are Blake’s prosody, myth-structures, the sexes, the evolution of his understandings, etc.
Send submissions at your earliest convenience or whenever they blossom. Deadline: 15 February 1981.[e] Please include stamped, self-addressed envelope. Kindly pass the word along to anyone you know who might be interested in contributing to this project. SWEET JOYS BEFALL THEE, JIM BOGAN/FRED GOSS, ART DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ROLLA, ROLLA, MO. 65401.