Terrance Lindall's Paradise Lost Project

Terrance Lindall, A Dungeon Horrible

"At once as far as Angels kenn he views

The dismal Situation waste and wilde,

A Dungeon horrible, on all sides round

As one great Furnace flam'd, yet from those flames

No light, but rather darkness visible" (PL 1.58-63)

(Image from Williamsburg Art and Historical Center)

About a year ago, I posted an entry on Terrance Lindall, the former Heavy Metal illustrator who has also done some illustrations for Milton's Paradise Lost.

I don't know if he saw that, but he apparently lurks at my favorite academic listserve, the Milton List, where I sometimes post messages, and he seems to have visited my blog, for he wrote me a note two days ago asking my opinion on a topic related to Milton and mentioned this:

I have been following your comments on the Milton Lists. I also appreciate your essays referencing philosophers such as David Hume. The breadth of your cultural interests and your sense of humor are great attributes.

My "essays" would likely be my published articles, which I've linked to on my sidebar, unless Mr. Lindall meant my blog posts, but I'm guessing that he meant my articles, for in one of them, I cite David Hume's comment on a passage from Milton's Paradise Lost.

Anyway, since Mr. Lindall was so thoughtful as to contact me, I'll offer a brief plug for his work. Here's what I noted about a year ago:

I recently discovered that the Heavy Metal illustrator Terrance Lindall published a number of illustrations in 1982 as homage to Paradise Lost, one of which you see above and several of which you can see online at the Williamsburg Art and Historical Center's Gallery, which had a Terrance Lindall Retrospective some years back (May 13-June 11, 2000) and which still maintains some of these images online.

Mr. Lindall is still very active, for he tells me that he is arranging a "voiceover recording of PL [i.e., Paradise Lost] for the DVD [that] the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center is making."

This DVD project is connected with John Milton's 400th birthday, which is coming up in 2008, for he was born on December 9, 1608, and the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center has a number of Milton events scheduled for next year in honor of Milton.

You can read about that at the link provided and also find further links to preliminary work toward the DVD, which is described as follows:

We are also working on a DVD presentation of Paradise Lost. It will have a famous Shakespearean actor reading it with a musical background and will be completely re-filmed, but here is some Rough "pilot" footage:

The Fall of Satan

The Expulsion of Adam and Eve

If you click on either of those two links, you'll find Mr. Lindall's preliminary work for the DVD, including him reading selections from Milton's Paradise Lost to accompany images that he's painted to illustrate that epic poem.

Lindall's voice is a bit thin, which perhaps explains why he's looking for a Shakespearean actor to do the voiceover. But see -- and hear -- for yourself.

Anyway, to Mr. Lindall's request for my opinion, I offered my limited 'expertise', which wasn't especially expert, I'm afraid, but he thanked me anyway:

Thanks for the response! Good considerations for our team. Best regards, Terrance

So, there it is. I never would have expected an email from Terrance Lindall, but something unexpected happens every day ... if we just take the time to notice.

Though occasionally, the unexpected is hard to miss.