The danger of a work like this is that the central character is re-inventd to meet the age of the biographer. In the Sixties we had Blake the revolutionary, and now we have Blake the Tantrist. On the face of it however I think the author offers enough evidence to justify her slant on the man. She certainly fills in the missing piece in the Blake biographical jigsaw. For the first time the sub-cultural influences on Blake are brought to the fore. Now we can see the religious, spiritual and sexual ideas that influenced Blake so strongly, and where they came from. The breakthrough was discovering the Blake family's involvement in the Moravian church. Prior to this EP Thompson had postulated an involvement with Muggletonian dissenters, but no one had known for sure. The Moravian link answers many questions. Swedenborg was closely involved with this church during his stays in London. Many of Blake's friends and aquaintances were linked to this church, or to the various secret societies that trod similar ground. This book looks at the influence of Swedenborg's ideas, as it does the sacred sexuality of the alchemists, the ancient Freemasons, the Rosicrucians and the Kabbalists of the time. The'new' interest in mesmerism also influenced Blake.
Blake's artistic style was inspired by these same sources. Schuchard may not have got it all right [see the previous review] but she enters new territory and she opens the way for further research. She quotes Swedenborg extensively and clearly has researched him in some depth so I question the accuracy of her being a 'fraud'. For me this is one of the most exciting texts about Blake to appear for years, and it throws much light on what was previously only guessed at. The book reads very well. It makes assumptions about the state of Blake's marriage based upon the plots of his various works, which may or may not be accurate. But one feels by the end of it, that one has had light thrown on what previously was obscure and puzzling. My only criticism would be the quality of the illustrations which are cheaply produced, especially compared to the lavishness of the Bentley biography, 'Stranger in Paradise'. A small matter, this is a major work. It needs to be read.

Making the reasonable assumption that this book is based upon her article of the same name, Ms. Schuchard blatantly puts ideas into Swedenborg's mouth which he would have found revolting. To wit:

Ms Schuchard says, "Because virile potency is crucial to spiritual vision, Swedenborg argued that there were cases where an unmarried man could take a mistress and a husband could take a concubine." and that "when Mrs. Blake cried at her husband's proposal to bring a concubine into their home, she was perhaps influenced by those New Church preachers who warned about opening the floodgate to immorality."

Whereas what Swedenborg actually said was that in those cases where the alternative would lead to greater perversions, that it was *lawful* for an unmarried man to have a mistress, or a *permanently separated* husband to have a concubine; and that concubinage while living at the same time with a wife is "contrary to religion," "has been condemned and should be condemned by the Christian world," "is detestable," and "is an adultery whereby the conjugial principle, which is the most precious jewel of the Christian life is destroyed."

Nothing he wrote could be construed to mean that "virile potency is crucial to spiritual vision," but he did write that a moral life of wisdom is crucial to virile potency.

Ms Schuchard bizarrely states that what Swedenborg calls "wisdom" is a kind of "erotic trance" to be induced by meditations.

Which literally could not be further from Swedenborg's idea of "wisdom" which is this:
"Concepts come first; reason is formed by means of them, and wisdom by both concepts and reason together - and this when a person lives reasonably or rationally according to truths formed as concepts. Wisdom, therefore, has to do with both reason and life together. It is on the way to becoming wisdom when it is a matter of reason first and consequently of life; but it is wisdom when it has become a matter of life first and consequently of reason....
Since wisdom is, as we said above, a matter of life first and consequently of reason, the question arises, what wisdom of life is. In brief summary, it is this: to refrain from evils because they are harmful to the soul, harmful to the civil state, and harmful to the body, and to do good things because they are of benefit to the soul, to the civil state, and to the body. This is the wisdom that is meant by the wisdom to which conjugial love attaches itself. For it attaches itself through wisdom's shunning the evil of adultery as a pestilence injurious to the soul, to the civil state, and to the body. And because this wisdom springs from spiritual concerns which have to do with the church, it follows that conjugial love depends on the state of the church in a person, because it depends on the state of his wisdom."

The actual book Conjugial Love, from which she claims to take the things she asserts, can be read here. So judge for yourself.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11248/11248-h/11248-h.htm

I can't attest to her scholarship regarding Blake, but if it's as good as that regarding Swedenborg... then it's completely worthless.