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Given the status of the Bible in the western literary tradition as one of the most appropriated and alluded to of all ancient and religious texts, it is not unusual that William Blake writes so extensively about it. While a great body of Blake's mature works, including the longer works "Milton" and "Jerusalem," deal with biblical themes, his early central work, 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," gives insight not only into themes that would later occupy Blake's longer works, but also into the unique status of the Bible in western literature

When Kurt Vonnegut published his first novel, "Player Piano," in 1952, he wrote about corporate culture taking over in America. It was the end of WWII and Vonnegut, as a young novelist, wrote about a distant future where the corporate powers that were beginning to dominate the American landscape seized the opportunities presented by the fragile post-war economy. Today, 57 years later, Vonnegut's vision is much closer to reality than anyone browsing the "new fiction" section in 1952 would accept. Vonnegut is a visionary. This article examines the lasting value and effect of Vonnegut's ever-true vision and work.