Alan Jacobs
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ayjay.bsky.social
Alan Jacobs
@ayjay.bsky.social
180 followers 25 following 96 posts
https://ayjay.org
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ayjay.bsky.social
In the TLS, Austin Spendlowe says that my biography of *Paradise Lost* is “an enduringly readable work of intellectual history that will justify the ways of Milton to many.”

www.the-tls.com/regular-feat...
Led into temptation
Paradise Lost was hardly a shoo-in for Princeton’s Lives of Great Religious Books series, as Alan Jacobs is quick to acknowledge. The burly epic exhibits,
www.the-tls.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:24 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
On Wednesday my parish church held a beautiful Choral Evensong service, featuring guest preacher Rowan Williams! You may watch the stream here:

www.youtube.com/live/sVAxctZ...

— starting with two preludes played beautifully by our organist and choirmaster Eugene Lavery.
10/29/2025 - Choral Evensong - 7 PM - The Feast of James Hannington and his Companions, Martyrs
YouTube video by St. Alban's Waco
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:08 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
The big A.I. companies’ business model
August 13, 2025 at 11:44 AM
ayjay.bsky.social
I wrote about Richard Wilbur's greatest poem and how a bit of it was (I think) inspired by his reading Dorothy L. Sayers.

blog.ayjay.org/the-truth-in...
the truth in view – The Homebound Symphony
blog.ayjay.org
August 11, 2025 at 12:53 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
2023 workflow: web search and then click through pages until you find the info

2024 workflow: Ask chatbot, copy and paste answer

2025 workflow: Ask chatbot, doubt its answer, web search and then click through pages until you find the info
August 10, 2025 at 12:02 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
I explained to my Buy Me a Coffee supporters why I ask them to buy me dragons:

buymeacoffee.com/ayjay/on-dra...
On Dragons — ayjay
Post by ayjay
buymeacoffee.com
July 29, 2025 at 1:47 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
At @christianitytoday.com Matthew Mullins writes very generously about my new book on PARADISE LOST:

www.christianitytoday.com/2025/07/para...
Who Is the Real Hero of ‘Paradise Lost?’ - Christianity Today
Alan Jacobs clarifies centuries of debate over John Milton’s epic retelling of the Fall.
www.christianitytoday.com
July 25, 2025 at 3:37 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
I asked the chatbots why they say "Hail Satan" but won't say "Jesus Is Lord" and they replied:

blog.ayjay.org/hail-satan-b...
blog.ayjay.org
July 25, 2025 at 1:30 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
I wrote a pretty long essay on Ernst Lubitsch's neglected comic masterpiece CLUNY BROWN (1946):

blog.ayjay.org/cluny-brown
blog.ayjay.org
July 25, 2025 at 1:29 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
Honored to be in my buddy Austin Kleon's newsletter this morning. Me and Tolstoy.

austinkleon.substack.com/p/breaking-b...
Breaking bread with the dead
Old books are time machines
austinkleon.substack.com
July 15, 2025 at 12:34 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
I started writing about Dorothy L. Sayers's forgotten play THE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE, and didn't stop until I had seven posts and 10,000 words. I've put it all one one page, just for those of you who can't get enough Roman politics and Nicene theology:

blog.ayjay.org/dorothy-l-sa...
Dorothy L. Sayers and the Emperor Constantine – The Homebound Symphony
blog.ayjay.org
July 14, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Alan Jacobs
princetonupress.bsky.social
The life and times of Milton’s epic poem about Satan’s revolt against God and humanity’s expulsion from paradise

Out now. Read a free sample and save 30% with code PUP30: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco... @ayjay.bsky.social‬
The life and times of Milton's epic poem about Satan's revolt against God and humanity's expulsion from paradise
July 10, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Alan Jacobs
princetonupress.bsky.social
The @wsj.com calls @ayjay.bsky.social 's Paradise Lost: A Biography “a concise, lively, and learned account of the poem’s creation and reception.” Read more:

www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
John Milton’s Paradise Lost has secured its place in the pantheon of epic poems, but unlike almost all other works in the pantheon, it is intimately associated with religious doctrine and its implications for how we live our lives. For more than three centuries, it has been a flashpoint for arguments not just about Christianity but also about governance, rebellion and obedience, sexual politics, and what makes poetry great. Alan Jacobs tells the story of Milton’s enduring poem, shedding light on its composition and reception and explaining why it resonates so powerfully with us today. Composed through dictation after Milton went blind in 1652, Paradise Lost centers on an ancient biblical answer to the eternal question of how evil came into the world. It has proved impossible to disentangle the defense or critique of the poem from attitudes toward Christianity itself. Does Christian theology entail monarchy or democracy? Are relations between the sexes thwarted by pompous and tyrannical men or by vain and disobedient women? Jacobs traces how generations of readers have grappled with these and other questions, along the way revealing how Milton’s poem influenced novelists like Mary Shelley and Philip Pullman and has served as the inspiration for paintings, operas, comic books, and video games. An essential companion to Milton’s poetic masterpiece, this book shows why Paradise Lost continues to serve as a mirror reflecting our own complex attitudes about power and authority, justice and revolt, and sin and salvation.
July 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
As I said to my wonderful @princetonupress.bsky.social editor Fred Appel, when the @wsj.com runs a feature review of a university press book about a 17th-century poem, maybe culture isn't *altogether* dead. 😉
June 30, 2025 at 1:40 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
Just a reminder that Dana Gioia calls my book “A concise, lively and learned account of the poem’s creation and reception” — and could a former director of the National Endowment for the Arts be wrong about such a thing?

press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/...
Paradise Lost
The life and times of Milton’s epic poem about Satan’s revolt against God and humanity’s expulsion from paradise
press.princeton.edu
June 30, 2025 at 1:35 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
I'm delighted to see this review of PARADISE LOST: A BIOGRAPHY — by the great Dana Gioia!

www.wsj.com/arts-culture...
A War Over Heaven and Hell
Samuel Johnson quipped that even the admirers of John Milton’s epic never wished it ‘longer than it is.’ But ‘Paradise Lost’ reshaped English literature.
www.wsj.com
June 28, 2025 at 11:03 AM
ayjay.bsky.social
First post of a series on Dorothy L. Sayers, the emperor Constantine, and the Council of Nicaea:

blog.ayjay.org/sayers-and-c...
Sayers and Constantine: 1 – The Homebound Symphony
blog.ayjay.org
June 27, 2025 at 1:36 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
I posted an update for my Buy Me a Coffee supporters, and almost laid a malediction upon those who do not support me:

buymeacoffee.com/ayjay/report...
Report from the Other World — ayjay
Post by ayjay
buymeacoffee.com
June 25, 2025 at 12:42 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
My review of Martin Woessner's brilliant book on the philosophical significance of Terrence Malick's movies is out from behind its paywall:

hedgehogreview.com/issues/after...
I Was Strengthened at the Movies
The self-examination prompted by Malick’s films might lead to a place beyond philosophy.
hedgehogreview.com
June 23, 2025 at 11:40 AM
ayjay.bsky.social
Grateful for Micah Mattix's review of my PARADISE LOST: A BIOGRAPHY. I can't tell how much he liked the book but it's an excellent summation of the key issues.

www.washingtonexaminer.com/premium/3443...
The terrible fate of John Milton - Washington Examiner
Is there a book more widely loved than Paradise Lost by an author more universally disliked than John Milton? Catholics dislike Milton for his anti-Catholicism, Anglicans dislike him for his nonconfor...
www.washingtonexaminer.com
June 21, 2025 at 12:30 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
Dorothy L. Sayers, exasperated:

blog.ayjay.org/the-composer...
the composer as ASS and other exasperations – The Homebound Symphony
blog.ayjay.org
June 17, 2025 at 12:42 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
Joseph Addison said, "We have an actual interest in every­thing [Adam & Eve] do, and no less than our utmost happiness is concerned and lies at stake in all their be­hav­ior." Virginia Woolf said, "Has any­ great poem ever let in so ­little light upon one’s own joys and sorrows?" Thus my book.
princetonupress.bsky.social Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · Jun 12
An essential companion to Milton’s poetic masterpiece, Paradise Lost: A Biography shows why Milton's epic poem continues to serve as a mirror reflecting our own complex attitudes about power & authority, justice & revolt, and sin & salvation.

Read a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The life and times of Milton's epic poem about Satan's revolt against God and humanity's expulsion from paradise
June 14, 2025 at 1:44 PM
ayjay.bsky.social
It's the gift that keeps giving!
adamroberts.bsky.social Adam Roberts @adamroberts.bsky.social · Jun 13
Today's book post.
A copy of Alan Jacobs' "Paradise Lost: a Biography", recently published by Princeton University Press.
June 13, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Reposted by Alan Jacobs
princetonupress.bsky.social
An essential companion to Milton’s poetic masterpiece, Paradise Lost: A Biography shows why Milton's epic poem continues to serve as a mirror reflecting our own complex attitudes about power & authority, justice & revolt, and sin & salvation.

Read a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The life and times of Milton's epic poem about Satan's revolt against God and humanity's expulsion from paradise
June 12, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Alan Jacobs
princetonupress.bsky.social
The life and times of Milton’s epic poem about Satan’s revolt against God and humanity’s expulsion from paradise.

Paradise Lost: A Biography is out now. Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
Paradise Lost: A Biography by Alan Jacobs
June 4, 2025 at 2:35 PM