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The Political Afterlife of Paradise Lost

(www.newstatesman.com)
56 points drdee | 1 comments | 19 Nov 24 22:35 UTC | HN request time: 0.283s | source
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KineticLensman ◴[20 Nov 24 14:56 UTC] No.42194421[source]▶
The book being reviewed by TFA is not itself a review of Paradise Lost, but a study of how people have interpreted Paradise Lost since it was published in 1667. TFA says 'The biggest story that Reade is telling is that of slavery.'

YMMV, but I don't think that this was Milton's main message - IIRC from reading PL years ago at school, the main story was Satan's rebellion against God. Satan was presented as a sort of heroic anti-hero, who has some great lines, although he eventually (of course) loses. So, I guess I'm saying please don't let this review of a book that highlights lots of peoples' reactions to PL influence your judgement of the underlying source text.

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tupshin ◴[20 Nov 24 19:06 UTC] No.42197096[source]▶
"the main story was Satan's rebellion against God"

so Satan rebelling against being enslaved?

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1. KineticLensman ◴[20 Nov 24 19:55 UTC] No.42197491[source]▶
More like the rebellion of a subject against their king, which isn't quite the same as slavery used in TFA (which is mainly the slavery of the blacks under the whites).