WHAT IN ME IS DARK

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR Lively and humane Reade s enthusiasm and curiosity are winning GUARDIANSummoned in Haiti s struggle against colonial rule read in prison by the young Malcolm X and reimagined by Virginia Woolf this is the revolutionary history of Milton s epic poem Paradise LostOrlando Reade shows the many different surprising and often contradictory ways in which Milton s epic poem Paradise Lost has been read across centuries and continents Boldly original lively and far reaching What in Me Is Dark is the story of how a work of literature born in the ashes of a failed revolution became an indelible part of the modern imagination Reade guides us through the epic exploring how Milton came to write its dark and dazzling poetry and offers us a new account of its radical ever evolving legacy Clever wide ranging witty and sardonic NEW STATESMAN