Techno-Prosthetic Romantic FuturismThe Ghost of a FleaMonstrosity! What is this "most ingenious, and able personification of a devil, or a malignant and powerful fiend, that ever emanated from the inventive pencil of a painter?" [1] A monstrosity, yes, with enough destructive power to depopulate Europe. Look closely at the flea's bloodsucking head. Does it seem familiar? It's George III, King of England, Monarch of Great Britain. Blake puts the head of the King on the body of a fiend. He knows the truth of monstrosity. It comes to consume. It exhorts transformation. Notes1.G. E. Bentley, Blake Records (Clarendon: Oxford UP, 1969): 426. Navigation |