The Cambridge Companion to Paradise Lost -- Cover Illustration by Terrance Lindall

Cover Illustration by Terrance Lindall
Scroll Down for Better Image of Artwork

My friend Terrance Lindall -- the well-known 'surrealist' artist who has illustrated many scenes of Milton's Paradise Lost -- recently emailed me and others to let us know that Cambridge University Press has The Cambridge Companion to Paradise Lost displayed on its website, so we can now see how his cover illustrations have been arranged, and the image above shows one of his illustrations using the principle of superimposition, an intriguing arrangement enticing to the eye and implying that Lindall has multiple artworks on Milton's epic poem, which he does.

Here's what Cambridge University Press says about the book's editor and contents:

Editor: Louis Schwartz, University of Richmond

Louis Schwartz is Professor of English at the University of Richmond, Virginia. His essays and book reviews on Milton and early modern English literature and culture have been published in journals such as Milton Quarterly, Milton Studies, Reformation, The Comparatist, and The Lancet. His book, Milton and Maternal Morality (Cambridge University Press, 2009), is the winner of the Milton Society of America's James Holly Hanford Award for 2010.

This Companion presents fifteen short, accessible essays exploring the most important topics and themes in John Milton's masterpiece, Paradise Lost. The essays invite readers to begin their own independent exploration of the poem by equipping them with useful background knowledge, introducing them to key passages, and acquainting them with the current state of critical debates. Chapters are arranged to mirror the way the poem itself unfolds, offering exactly what readers need as they approach each movement of its grand design. Essays in Part I introduce the characters who frame the poem's story and set its plot and theological dynamics in motion. Part II deals with contextual issues raised by the early books, while Part III examines the epic's central and final episodes. The volume concludes with a meditation on the history of the poem's reception and a detailed guide to further reading, offering students and teachers of Milton fresh critical insights and resources for continuing scholarship.

-Presents short, accessible essays on the topics most important to understanding Paradise Lost

-Essays are written by fifteen recognized Milton specialists

-Includes a detailed guide to further reading, offering students and teachers of Milton fresh critical insights and resources

Table of Contents

Part I:
1. Milton as narrator in Paradise Lost Stephen M. Fallon
2. Satan Neil Forsyth
3. Things of darkness: sin, death, chaos John Rumrich
4. The problem of God Victoria Silver
Part II:
5. Classical models Maggie Kilgour
6. Milton's Bible Jeffrey Shoulson
7. The line in Paradise Lost John Creaser
8. The pre-secular politics of Paradise Lost Paul Stevens
9. Cosmology Karen L. Edwards
Part III:
10. Imagining Eden William Shullenberger
11. Milton's angels Joad Raymond
12. Gender Shannon Miller
13. Temptation W. Gardner Campbell
14. Regeneration in Books 11 and 12 Mary C. Fenton
Part IV:
15. Reception William Kolbrener.

I know most of these scholars' names -- and know some of them personally from the Milton List -- so I can see that this companion is of high scholarly value and can be trusted as a guide to Paradise Lost.

Readers interested in seeing more of Lindall's art illustrating Paradise Lost can go here to see further images like this one:

Those interested in related illustrations by Lindall in my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, can see a preview here of others like this:

If you look carefully, you can see Milton. Look, therefore, further . . .