postmodern paradise

I have been on a philosophical kick lately. Must be due to my reading list.

Recently, I began reading Milton's Paradise Lost. I was struck by, of all things, the introduction written by David Hawkes. Hawkes talked quite extensively of the works of Milton, in regard to the time frame in which they were written. He talked of how the world was industrializing, and marginalizing the individuality of the "person". People were seeing not only each other, but also themselves, as simply a replaceable unit of labor.

Hawkes claimed that Paradise Lost was largely about the difference between phenomena and noumena. The difference between what we, as beings of the senses, can distinguish, and from what is the underlying reality.

This focus on phenomena, and of the use of symbols to redefine everything, has become the crux of our society (truly postmodern). Milton saw this unfolding at his time, and his works are largely prophetic if viewed in this light.

It definitely puts a different light on the work itself, and I am reading it with a new perspective.

Thank you David Hawkes.