Frye, Northrop

Average customer rating:

Erudite musings
Essential
sweeping vision
One cannot explain it all
Not only good for academics...

Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays
Northrop Frye
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Great Code: The Bible and Literature
Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature
Fearful Symmetry
Northrop Frye on Shakespeare
The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry

ASIN: 0691069999

Book Description

Striking out at the conception of criticism as restricted to mere opinion or ritual gesture, Northrop Frye wrote this magisterial work proceeding on the assumption that criticism is a structure of thought and knowledge in its own right. In four brilliant essays on historical, ethical, archetypical, and rhetorical criticism, employing examples of world literature from ancient times to the present, Frye reconceived literary criticism as a total history rather than a linear progression through time.

Literature, Frye wrote, is "the place where our imaginations find the ideal that they try to pass on to belief and action, where they find the vision which is the source of both the dignity and the joy of life." And the critical study of literature provides a basic way "to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in."

Harold Bloom contributes a fascinating and highly personal preface that examines Frye's mode of criticism and thought (as opposed to Frye's criticism itself) as being indispensable in the modern literary world.

Customer Reviews:

Erudite musings.......2007-05-08

The book is moderately curious but very overrated. Btw, the author himself doesn't pretend it is more than it is: he freely admits in the preface that his book is incomplete and, for example, cannot be taken as an exposition of his theory. It is, he says, an essay in the original meaning of this word: and incomplete attempt. Bloom -- tactfully but even more crisply -- conveys this same idea in his foreword; this, he says, is a period piece, not a timeless book, and, I quote, it "will survive because it is serious, spiritual, and comprehensive, but not because it is systematic or a manifestation of genius." Finally, whatever doubts we may still have are dispelled within the first, say, ten pages. So, what to expect here?

The book is erudite, yes. Intellectually stimulating? Very much so. It'll make you want to read more (not of him, but those he talks about, like Aristotle's Poetics, for example).

But is it directly instructive? No, not really. Well thought out? No. Shapeless? Yes. Unjustified and uneven? Overwhelmingly, yes -- and, at times, descending into outright drivel. An example (p.5):

"It is generally accepted that a critic is a better judge of the value of a poem than its creator, but there is still a lingering notion that it is somehow ridiculous to regard the critic as the final judge of its meaning, even though in practice it is clear that he must be. The reason for this is an inability to distinguish literature from the descriptive or assertive writing which derives from the active will and the conscious mind, and which is primarily concerned to "say" something."

Here we have a careless pile of anecdotal evidence, ad numerum, at least two ad populums, and got only knows what else, crowned by a non sequitur. This? From a supposed prominent literary figure, a person of note? I mean, what prevents one from countering the argument above with, say, the following:

"It is generally accepted that a poet is a better judge of the value of a poem than its critic, but there is still a lingering notion that it is somehow ridiculous to regard the poet as the final judge of its meaning, even though in practice it is clear that he must be" and so on? You get my point. The whole book brims over with this kind of argumentation.

So, should you read it? Not first, and maybe not at all. This is a curious, mostly rewarding, but not a must-read piece. If you're new to Frye, first think whether and why you need him at all, and second, if you decide to dabble, go for Fearful Symmetry first.

I have to say that so far I've more enjoyed and learned from ten pages of Bloom than a hundred pages of Frye, but tastes differ, so YMMV. And besides, even though Anatomy of Criticism is definitely not the "most important work of literary theory in the 20th century", I don't regret reading this book -- after all, I could quit, but I didn't.

Essential.......2007-02-02

It really is of no importance, whether you agree with Frye, or you do not. After all, such things only matter if you are yourself literature historian, and you already developed your own viewpoints of the literature or culture and what does it look like. But, if you are only begining your own path upon that winding road, you shouldn't walk right past Frye without stopping and looking at least for some time.

Amongst the books to which I return often, which fuel over and over again mine desire for things that are slowly, but irreversibly being forgotten, amongst E.R.Curtius, Erich Auerbach, Roland Barthes, stands Frye. Stands there as an equal. His "Anatomy of criticism" keeps shoving itself, many times over, as an endless well of themes, motives, ideas, it functions as a marvelous whole which is trying to shed some light upon the dark corners of the earth. Especially those presented in literatures of all kind.

Of course, this is a major task for any book, and question remains of Fryes successfulness. Personally, putting aside all thoughts of structuralism, deconstructionism and all kinds of isms, that emerged years after this book was published, Fryes conception of critic, and critical task still remain important and strong as ever it was.

I will not talk about it here, it makes no sense at all, retelling Frye. He's making best argue over his own position with his own words, which you will find printed here. What I should say is - putting aside Frye and his work means missing very large part of literature. Not the corpus itself, of course, but rather a certain viewpoint, manner of building worlds with bricks that are dealt beforehand, manner that breathes new life into a body that has been slowly rotting away.

sweeping vision.......2005-05-11

In this classic work Frye takes a long view of literature, and discerns deep structural patterns. In Essay I he charts a progression in the history of western literature from myth through romance through realism to irony in which the hero becomes increasingly human. Essay III envisions different archetypal literary forms (comedy, romance, tragedy, satire) as continuous phases of a central quest-myth that recurs throughout the history of western literature, and lays out a rich and resonant typology of their symbolism.

I found Essays II and IV, which are concerned with forms of symbolism, and genres, respectively, to be somewhat muddled, and much less insightful than the other two essays.

Bottom line- if you read Essays I and III you will gain a new and lasting insight into the stories you come across and the way they work, be they novels, films, plays or poetry.

Highly recommended as an antidote to the facile post-modernism and literary identity politics that most English departments are awash in these days.

For those reading the book, I also recommend googling Everett Frost's recreation of the mandala diagram of Essay III that Frye left out of the manuscript.

One cannot explain it all .......2004-10-20

When I was in graduate school long before the Soviet Empire fell this work was treated as if it were a kind of ' Bible '. It was the work which made the study of Literature a ' field of Knowledge' and not simply a kind of arena of diverse opinion. It took the whole history of Literature and organized it in such a way that any work could somehow find its place, and be fit into it.
I tried very hard to understand this work, and I believe I really did not get it. Perhaps it was a certain skeptical element in me which simply felt that each work , each of the real works was so unique that ' fitting it into a scheme' did not make much sense of it all. Another problem was despite my liking of the lyrical Blake I felt Frye too much gone on those Blakean mythmonster poems which I myself felt so dull and idiosyncratic.
One idea from the work remains with me certainly- and this is the idea that Literature is created not out of nothing, but out of previous Literature. I would qualify this a bit by saying that it is also created out of our experience. But I do not mean to be ' correcting ' or putting down Frye. I recognize that there is some kind of heroic effort here to put it all together for the greater understanding of us all.
It just never worked for me. And I will readily admit I may be very very wrong , and simply a poor reader here.

Not only good for academics..........2004-03-13

Northrop Frye provides you with structures common to Western literature, which is a great education.

Though he uses 'academic' examples- the applications of this knowledge are unlimited- and may allow you predict the ending of a movie as you watch it, or a good novel as you read it. And this knowledge will generally make that experience all the more enjoyable.

So once you've covered the basics of literary structure in the West, you'll be able to see 'new' structures as they come along- and understand them in the context of the old. That's fun.

The relevance of this book is limited to your imagination- if you accept it's general structural descriptions as accurate- you can 'literary' structure at work in politics, art, your favorite dumb movie, etc...

But if you take this excellent work as a manifesto of truth for all time, you'll write reviews like the name-dropping book tourist, which find Frye's work to be 'too Western' and limiting.

Well, I never went to college..but I know Catholicism, and it's all about righteous indignation..

Anyway, this book should be fun for you and your smart friends who wish to investigate literature from the standpoint of a loved hobby, or cultural metaphor.

A fun, creative, and lively read. Frye's got a sense of humor.

The Great Code: The Bible and Literature
Average customer rating:

The Gap Between the Scholars and the Pew

classic work

This book opens many doors - unless you prefer them closed

Ignorant

In Frye We Trust

The Great Code: The Bible and Literature
Northrop Frye
Manufacturer: Harvest/HBJ Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Semiotics | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Reference | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Words With Power: Being A Second Study "The Bible And Literature"

Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays

The Literary Guide to the Bible

Northrop Frye on Shakespeare

The Art of Biblical Narrative

ASIN: 0156027801

Book Description

An examination of the influence of the Bible on Western art and literature and on the Western creative imagination in general. Frye persuasively presents the Bible as a unique text distinct from all other epics and sacred writings. “No one has set forth so clearly, so subtly, or with such cogent energy as Frye the literary aspect of our biblical heritage” (New York Times Book Review). Indices.

Customer Reviews:

The Gap Between the Scholars and the Pew.......2006-10-13

"The result, then, of what is now called the historical-critical method was an understanding of the Bible as a collection of historically conditioned documents, reflecting the biases, backgrounds and idiosyncrasies of its authors." Michael Coogan

Coogan's Archaeological Inquiry:
Professor Coogan explains, "The first challenges to this traditional understanding of the Bible as unequivocally the word of God, consistent and free from error, came in the 17th century, when philosophers challenged traditional views about the Bible's authorship and authority, by appealing to common sense, logic and historical method. By the 19th century this approach had gained considerable momentum. During the same period thousands of ancient texts-in languages such as Assyrian, Babylonian, Aramaic and later Sumerian and Ugaritic-were excavated, deciphered and translated. Many of these texts had close or even verbatim correspondences with biblical passages, so that the view of the Bible as a unique document without parallel came under irrevocable challenge. Finally, there was an exponential growth of scientific knowledge: The Bible was simply not true or not simply true, in the sense in which it had for so long been considered. Its cosmology, anthropology and chronology were often just wrong. For the most part, scholars engaged in this new criticism were not only believers but ordained clergy, generally teachers in seminaries." Between the Scholars and the Pew

A feel for the context
Bible students are warned to be aware of the figurative devices in the Bible and the need to carefully read and study the Bible to become familiar with the ways that language is utilized. The evidence is clear that parts of the Bible are meant figuratively, and we are rejecting the Word of God if we refuse to consider the possibility of figures of speech. Origen went so far as to suggest that there were some passages of Scripture that had no literal meaning. We should not refuse to understand a method the Bible itself uses, but need to get a feel for the context, to see the types of literature contained in the Bible, the way it uses poetic language, the way it gives commands, relates history and predicts the future.

Frye on the Bible:
An ordained United Church minister as well as a critic and teacher, N. Frye wrote two major books on the Bible, The Great Code in 1982 and Words with Power in 1990. All his life he turned to the Bible for inspiration, refreshment and an understanding of the ideas behind Western civilization. As he said, his critical work, beginning with his famous study of William Blake in 1947, all revolved around the Bible.
At one point Robert Fulford, a Toronto author and journalist finds him reflecting that the Bible leaves us with "a very human feeling that if we were God, we would work harder to earn our keep; that if we were in charge of what happened, we wouldn't make such appalling bungles as God appears to be making." In 'Northrop Frye Unbuttoned,' we read a closely related notion in the book; "The worst thing we can say of God is that he knows all."

The Great Code:
In 1982 Frye published The Great Code, which has since been translated into 22 languages. In it, he treats the Bible as a totally unified book, disregarding the scholarly agreement that it actually was written by dozens of writers in three different languages over a period of a thousand years. Frye declares that the coherence of the Bible's narrative as a whole is created by what he calls a 'U-Shaped plot,' that begins with the Genesis creation of Adam and Eve, family and garden state is followed by a fall into a long alternation of historical disasters and triumphs. He concludes with a final ascent back to harmony in the eternal city of Jerusalem at the end of the book of Revelation. This U-shaped pattern is repeated in dozens of minor plots of fall and rise in the stories of Joseph, Moses, David, or Job, and of Peter and Paul, each of which functions as a 'type' or pre-figuration of what follows and of the encompassing whole. Frye discovers the same kind of unifying repetition or typology in the recurrence of specific images throughout the Old and New Testaments--e.g. the image of the tree, the ocean, the tower, the garden, the sheep and shepherd. Such repetitions of plot and image tie the many books of the Bible together, and also create a sense of deja vu and premonition, hinting that discreet events have some greater symbolic significance, that they are both themselves and not themselves, that time may be an illusion.

Myth, Metaphor in the Bible:
In 'Words With Power,' 1990, Frye re-examines the role of myth and metaphor in the Bible, reasserting that many of its central themes and images reverberate throughout Western literature. His conclusion is that "the organizing structures of the Bible and the corresponding structures of 'secular' literature reflect each other," that a finite number of species of myths, including those of creation, fall, exodus, destruction and redemption, provide the narrative sources of literature. Such ideas, have been suggested by Frye earlier, in his study of the Bible and literature, as 'The Great Code,' a summing up of his overall critical views. Some parts of the book, which deals with different idioms of linguistic expression and the social function of literature feels as if Frye was just rewriting earlier assertions, trying to answer questions and restatement raised by his critics.

A lineage of Mythographers:
Frye remains the eighth most frequently cited author in the arts and humanities, among a company that includes Aristotle, Shakespeare and Freud. Much of his thinking about structure came from his study of Sir James Frazer's anthropology and Oswald Spengler's gloomy critique of the West. Frye traced his ancestry to a lineage of mythographers who all share the thesis that literature evolves from mythology and that both embody a community's core values and beliefs, about the devine and about secular matters from birth to death. In Northrop Frye Unbuttoned, he tells us, in a typically rueful way, that Alfred North Whitehead's Science and the Modern World influenced him just as profoundly.

Frye in his own mind:
Northrop Frye started his career as a divinity student and a preacher in the United Church of Canada, but then took an M.A. in English literature at Oxford and wrote his Master's thesis on the romantic poet and painter William Blake, whose sources of vision Frye demonstrated could be found in a literary tradition that stemmed from the Bible. Frye never seemed to have been a Christian in any conventional sense, he was a far from unquestioning Christianity. He not only didn't believe in Christian dogma, he didn't believe in Pistis Sophia, faithful belief; "I don't trust anything that remains in the dark as an object of belief." He had the consolation of knowing he wasn't alone; he was always turning back on his themes and ideas to restate earlier positions and modify them.

classic work.......2006-06-19

Intellectual "tour de force" by the greatest critic of our time:take the time to read, study, and enjoy.
This great text is an all-time classic that will appeal to the scholar and the layperson alike.
Frye is an amazing syncretist. I have never read any author other than Frye who can slip in and out of various disciplines so easily,and all the while weaving a "seamless web" of an argument that is logically structured and beautifully written. I realize that some statements in the text may offend conservative readers, but overall, the book is neutral regarding any matter of systemic doctrine or denominationally specific exegetical concerns. If anything, Frye's text offers the highest praise for the Bible
by showing how the language and imagery of the KJV penetrates all aspects of western literary and intellectual culture.

This book opens many doors - unless you prefer them closed.......2004-03-24

One of the review writers is going to be more than startled and probably very shocked to know that it is a matter of scholarly opinion that the Bible itself evolved, as do all literary works, from previous sacred scriptures, such as the Epic of Ba'al.

Anyway, I read this book years ago and just recommended it to a friend. I came to this site just wondering how reviewers saw it.

It's simply one literary critic's look at the Bible. That's all. For me, it was wonderful and opened up the Bible to me in a new way. Indeed, from this book, I went on to take an Old Testament course in a seminary and then wound up getting a Master of Divinity. If you don't want to be fascinated by the imagination of human beings (made in God's image) and are afraid to question the literary restraint of the limited English translations we are all saddled with, and if you don't believe in the broad and wonderful imagination of God, this book is definitely not for you. For those of you who know what God is thinking all the time, you can spend your money elsewhere.

This is a grand book. It opens many doors. Unless you prefer them closed.

Ignorant.......2004-01-02

Please, if you are in any way serious about knowledge of the Bible and about TRUTH do NOT read this book. There are scattered bits of truth throughout the book, but that is all they are...scattered bits. Many of the things Frye presents as "obvious" or "fact" are, in fact, incorrect.

I am going to give a couple of examples of Frye's "obvious" truths, which are often ignorant, misjudged, or otherwise untrue. My hope is that if you do decide to read this book you will look critically at it and not just suppose what he says to be true. Read the Bible for yourself and question his "obvious" truths--do some research! However, if you want to know the truth Frye isn't for you.

a couple examples:

1) Frye: "The Genesis account permits itself a verse (3:22) in which God seems to be telling other gods that man is now 'one of us', in a position to threaten their power unless they do something about it at once, with a break in the syntax that suggests genuine terror." (pg 109) --Number one, the Genesis account is phenomenal in its indication of the oneness and the trinity of God. The phrases translated plurally, "one of us", "let us make man in our image" are indicators of the trinity--God's plurality. Those verses were never intended to assume the existance of more than one God. (And interestingly enough, we may trace such beliefs that the Hebrews in their early stages of religion were not monotheistic to an outdated DISPROVEN theory by a man named Tylor who thought that the progression of religion began at polytheism and ended in monotheism--the logic was thrilling and wonderfully done and thought out with his theory, HOWEVER, it didn't quite line up with the facts that were brought to light: proof of belief in one God in hundreds of primitive people groups across the world. --see "Eternity in their Hearts" chapter 4 or research Edward B. Tylor)To get myself back on track: the plurality of the early Genesis verses has nothing to do with other gods, it has to do with the plurality of one God. The plural for GOd (Elohim) is the name used in the Hebrew text, BUT it is used with SINGULAR verbs--the author is trying to convey the oneness/singularity of God while showing that God is also plural in the sense of the trinity. (See 1st John 5:7 "For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.")

Frye is ignorant of these things, or chooses to ignore them.

2. Frye: "What man aquires in the Fall is evidently sexual experience as we know it, and something called the knowledge of good and evil, obviously connected with sex but not otherwise explained...the reason for the creation of woman, we are told (2:@4), is that in the sexual relation man should be not alone and yet "one flesh" with his wife." (pg110)

There are a lot of problems within this small passage above, and I may not touch on them all, but here are a few:

1. Frye's use of the word "obviously". There is no indication, no allusion, no Biblical text that tells us that the fall had ANYTHING to do with sex. Nothing whatsoever. I don't think that something you have to make up and read into a passage is quite "obvious."

2. Frye says later in the passage that by having sex man became more on the level of God and angels. 1) angels and God are clearly on far separate levels according to the Bible--they are the creation, God is the creator. 2) Nowhere in the Bible does God have sex, so how would sex put us closer to His level if it is not an activity He engages in?

3. Frye contradicts himself. He first says that sex is the real cause of the fall of man, but then, only a few sentances later, he tells us that Eve was created to become "one flesh" with Adam. (I won't even go into the understatement and incompleteness in that sentence.)If God created man and woman to have sex then why in the world would He punish them for it. Frye is creating his own god, whose character is not that of the God of the Bible--YHWH the righteous judge, loving Father, protector and prosperer of His people. A father does not tell his son to take out the trash and then punish his son for that very act--and God did not create man as a sexual being and then punish him for that.

I won't traverse any farther into frye, though this passage needs much more clarification. I can only tell you that Frye's book is not for seekers of the truth. Truth is not what Frye is presenting.

Don't take my word for it, do the research--look at Hebrew script, "Elohim", Tylor's outdated theory, the Bible itself, etc.
And seek the truth, not a distortion of it.

In Frye We Trust.......2002-12-31

"The Great Code" reflects a lifetime's thinking about the patterns and meanings of the Bible, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a page that doesn't contain some nugget of insight--my copy's covered in Papermate blue! Frye's central point is that the Bible's best read as a complex ecology of types: the accounts of Jesus in the Gospels, for instance, have less to do with his actual deeds and words, however much our modern idea of history would like them to, than squaring his life with Old Testament 'anticipations.' In Frye's view, Jesus scarcely sneezes without invoking a line from the Old Testament, a fact that points to the essentally literary organization of the Bible. That's not to say the Bible's "merely" literature--on the contrary, Frye wants to show how it expands our sense of what literature and myth really mean. Meanwhile, he injects on the sly an attractive theology of his own. Literature like the Bible provides the types for us--the chain of typological anticipations doesn't culminate in Israel or Jesus or Revelation, but continues into our own lives, waking us up to our radical freedom.

My major disappointment with the book is that it grandly ignores Jacques Derrida and the deconstructionist critique of Frye's assumptions about the relationship between language and life, Word and presence. He mentions Derrida in the intro (the book appeared in 1981) and hints at a counterargument, but I would have liked to see him follow through, since their brand of criticism aims squarely at Frye's type of reading. Those with a more historical interest in the Bible will also balk at Frye's acceptance of the book as a unity, endorsing the misreading that turned the rich and varied texts of the Hebrew Torah into a vast typological waiting room for the Christian Messiah.

Customer Reviews:

Essential for Blake fans.......2006-02-26

Northrop Frye manages to convey in sweeping master strokes the brilliance of William Blakes poetry and unlocks the mysteries of Blakes symbols. More importantly, Frye engages the reader in learning a new way to look at literature in general and open up his eyes to a deeper world.

The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.......2004-10-29

This punch statement belongs to William Blake .
Enthusiasm , passion and a huge sense of commitment describe the enormous effort behind these admirable lines written by Frye
Every major poet demands from his critic a combination of direction and perspective , of intensive and extensive reading . Cosmology is literary art but there are two kinds : the first designed to understand the world and the other designed to transform it into the human desire .
The part one The argument
1. The case against Locke
2. The rising God
3. Beyond Good and evil
4. A literalist of the imagination
5. The word within the word
Part two The development of the symbolism
6. Tradition and experiment
7. The thief of fire
8. The refiner in fire
9. The nightmare with her ninefold
Part three The final synthesis
10. Comus Agonistes
11. The city of God
12. The burden of the valley of Vision
Fearful symmetry was written during the Second World Two and the principal reason which persuades me to recommend you this wise essay is the fact you can draw a line in the story which starts with Homero , Dante , Michelangelo, Blake and Beethoven and obtain a powerful conclusion about the enormous significance of this admirable thinker.
Beware the fact the unforgettable conductor Wilhelm Fürtwangler whose father was an intimate friend of Hans Schliemann liked to visit Rome and Florence to watch over and over the Michelangelo sculptures and paintings ; this fact allows me to onclude the underground road between the Florentine genius and the Bonn genius .
An indispensable book in your library.

Judging the book by its cover . . ........2001-07-10

One disadvantage of browsing online bookstores is that you can't simply skim the cover blurbs; sometimes you just have to settle for the opinions of strangers like me. So it may be helpful to read the quotes on the back cover of my copy of 'Fearful Symmetry.'

"To say it is a magnificent, extraordinary book is to praise it as it should be praised, but in doing so one gives little idea of the huge scope of the book and of its fiery understanding . Several great poets have written of Blake, but this book, I believe, is the first to show the full magnitude of Blake's mind, its vast creative thought." -- Edith Sitwell, 'The Spectator'

"According as we agree or disagree with Mr. Frye's contention we shall decide finally on the supremacy of his book. In following the structure of Blake's total vision and relating it to the thought of his age he has triumphantly carried out a task which, given the giant shape of the material, cannot help being immense. His cadences, by sheer explanatory devotion, approach the sonorities of Blake's own." -- 'Times Literary Supplement'

"Frye conducts his ambitious study with unflagging energy, great enthusiasm, and immense erudition." -- 'Poetry'

"An intelligent and beautifully written critical interpretation of the poetry and symbolic thought of William Blake..." -- 'New Yorker'

My opinion: Northrop Frye's literary criticism manages to shift the ground underfoot in the same rare way Blake's poetry does. Frye was the first to crack Blake's code, remove from him the labels of Mystic and Nutcase, and reveal him as a poet who systematically recreates the world. Frye taught Blake to Jesuits, Communist organizers, deans of women, and angry young poets. He was continually pleased to encounter doctors, housewives, clergymen, teachers, blue-collar workers, and shopkeepers, all with a great and deep appreciation of Blake.

Frye's deep appreciation and admiration for Blake comes through on every page, six times over. I reread this book about every five years, each time coming away seeing the world upside down, inside out, and worth renovating.

Best exposition of Blake.......2000-04-03

Blake sets us in the middle of a rich mythological structure. This is the best book for explaining what that structure is and how Blake will come to an element and illuminate sometimes inconsistent characteristics of that element if viewed in a limited selection. And yet when Blake's work is examined as a whole an encompassing structure is revealed where each part has been carefully delineated and accurately described throughout. Since Blake's collected works are rather massive it is very helpful to have an overview of Blake's view of man when examining how any one particular image is dealt with in a poem. Else, one might think that Blake's portrayals are incongruent from poem to poem, while his vision is actually quite cohesive. Frye wrote another excellent essay on Blake, the title has something to do with the Fourfold Key. It shows the structural similarity between Blake, Marx and Freud.

Biblical and Classical Myths: The Mythological Framework of Western Culture (Frye Studies)

Average customer rating:

Biblical and Classical Myths: The Mythological Framework of Western Culture (Frye Studies)
Northrop Frye , and Jay Macpherson
Manufacturer: University of Toronto Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Greek | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Fairy Tales | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Qualifying Textbooks - Spring 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion
The Great Code: The Bible and Literature
Words With Power: Being A Second Study "The Bible And Literature"
Fables Of Identity: Studies In Poetic Mythology
Northrop Frye on Religion (Collected Works of Northrop Frye)

ASIN: 0802086950

Book Description

In the 1970s and 80s, Northrop Frye and Jay Macpherson co-taught a very influential course at the University of Toronto's Victoria College on the history of Western mythology - Frye focusing on the biblical myths; Macpherson on the classical. Biblical and Classical Myths recreates the thought behind that course, with Frye's lectures - unpublished until very recently - supplemented by Macpherson's popular 1962 textbook on classical mythology, Four Ages: The Classical Myths.

Frye's lectures on the Bible make up the first half of the book. He expounds on an array of topics, including translations of the bible, sexual imagery, pastoral and agricultural imagery, and law and revolution in the bible. Four Ages makes up the second half. Macpherson narrates the major classical myths from stories of creation to the myths' survival in later European traditions.

By complementing the biblical tradition with the classical, this volume imparts a comprehensive understanding of western mythology. With a preface by Alvin Lee, general editor of the Collected Works of Northrop Frye, Biblical and Classical Myths is an essential volume and represents a unique achievement in scholarship. 

On Education
Average customer rating:
On Education
Northrop Frye
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Philosophy & Social Aspects | Education Theory | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0472101064

Book Description

Discusses the future of liberal education in an increasingly technological society.

Fables Of Identity: Studies In Poetic Mythology

Average customer rating:

Fables Of Identity: Studies In Poetic Mythology
Northrop Frye
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Criticism | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Qualifying Textbooks - Spring 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Great Code: The Bible and Literature
Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays
Words With Power: Being A Second Study "The Bible And Literature"
Biblical and Classical Myths: The Mythological Framework of Western Culture (Frye Studies)
The Educated Imagination (Cbc Massey Lectures Series)

ASIN: 0156297302

Book Description

In this outstanding collection of sixteen essays, the world-renowned critic and scholar discusses various works in the central tradition of English mythopoeic poetry, paying particular attention to the centrality of Romanticism.

Average customer rating:

An excellent guide to Shakespeare
Not Your Typical Frye
Two Words: "Green World"
An enlightening look at Shakespeare's plays.

Northrop Frye on Shakespeare
Northrop Frye
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Qualifying Textbooks - Spring 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth (Penguin Classics)
The Meaning of Shakespeare, Volume 1 (Phoenix Books)
Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays
The Great Code: The Bible and Literature
Everybody's Shakespeare: Reflections Chiefly on Tragedies

ASIN: 0300042086

Customer Reviews:

An excellent guide to Shakespeare.......2002-04-21

This is the book that opened Shakespeare up to me. In a college Shakespeare class, which I came into with a strong anti-Shakespeare bias, I found myself confused with the language, bored and indifferent with the stories and frustrated. So, I went out and picked up this book (I had read Frye's the Archetypes of Literature) and it immediately changed my outlook on the old bard. I soon noticed that much of what my professor was lecturing in class was taken from Frye's work. I had discovered the secret. This is a very readable, interesting and witty look into many of the Shakespearean plays. Frye is quite unusual for a literary critic, he's fun to read.

Not Your Typical Frye.......2001-09-11

Frye's essays on Shakespeare are distinguished by their accessibility. In "The Anatomy of Criticism" and "Fearful Symmetry" as well as other, more scholarly work, Frye demonstrates his profound insights into literature generally in the former and Blake's work in the latter. In both works, the reader is expected to have significant background in literary studies.
"Northrop Frye on Shakespeare" is targeted for the general reader. Frye's commentary helps any reader understand the Bard, but it does so in a more accessible style than any other work I have read by Frye. Ideally suited for the high school student or the college undergraduate, Frye's essays provide excellent entry points into many of Shakespeare's plays for the student who wishes to delve further into these essential works. Not exhaustive like Bloom's "Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human," or scholarly and advanced like Cavell's "Disowning Knowledge," Frye's work invites the reader to ponder some key points and formulate her own ideas.
This collection of essays complements the other works mentioned in this review. As an introductory set of essays on Shakespeare, it is without peer.

Two Words: "Green World".......1999-08-03

This book is excellent. Only two words are needed to explain its incredible value: "Green World"! Nothing more needs to be said.

An enlightening look at Shakespeare's plays........1999-01-30

Frye expertly reviews and comments on over half-a-dozen of the Bard's best works. The only problem with the book is that he doesn't look at more of Shakespeare's works!

The Diaries of Northrop Frye, 1942-1955 (Collected Works of Northrop Frye)

Average customer rating:

The Diaries of Northrop Frye, 1942-1955 (Collected Works of Northrop Frye)
Northrop Frye
Manufacturer: University of Toronto Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Authors | Arts & Literature | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Essays | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0802035388

Book Description

With the publication of Fearful Symmetry in 1947, Northrop Frye gained wide renown as a literary theorist, a reputation that continued to build throughout his lifetime. This volume in the Collected Works provides a transcription of the seven books of diaries that Frye kept intermittently from 1942 until 1955. During the period of the final six diaries, 1949 - 1955, Frye was at work on Anatomy of Criticism, and he refers frequently to many of the essays written during this period that became a part of the book that brought him international acclaim.

For Frye, diary-writing was a tool for recording "everything of importance" and this ruled out very little. His entries contain a large measure of self-analysis and self-revelation, and in this respect are confessional -- we see his sanguine humour, dark moods and claustrophobia, along with the more self-congratulatory aspects of his character. But the volume also serves as a chronicle. Peering over Frye's shoulder, we watch him teach his classes, plan his career, record his dreams, register his frank reactions to the hundreds of people who cross his path, eye attractive women, reflect on books, music and movies, ponder religious and political issues, consider his various physical and psychological ailments, practise the piano, visit bookstores, frequent Toronto restaurants, and record scores of additional activities, mundane and otherwise.

Book Description

An inveterate notebook keeper, Northrop Frye continually jotted down his ideas and thoughts as he worked through the complex schemes of his criticism. Volumes 5 and 6 of the Collected Works are the notebooks that he kept while writing his two final books, "Words with Power" and "The Double Vision". They provide a record of what he was reading and thinking as he struggled with the implications of those projects. In a sense they are the workshops out of which the books were constructed.

While focusing on the works-in-progress, the 3684 entries presented here range over diverse territory, never failing to surprise, delight, and provoke. In these notebooks, for instance, we find comments triggered by a detective story Frye is reading, a lecture he has to prepare, a glance at the books on his shelves, a quotation he remembers, a letter received, or the memory of a trip. In many respects, the notebooks reveal a Frye who is quite different from the critic who made his reputation with "Fearful Symmetry" and "Anatomy of Criticism", displaying aspects of his personality and thought that are not apparent in his books and essays. The notebooks show us the unbuttoned Frye, a complex man capable of both spiritual transcendence and hard-headed pragmatism. Here, for instance, his criticism of Catholicism is far more acerbic than in anything he published. Likewise, his rejection of both Marxist and feminist ideology is far more pointed than elsewhere.

These two volumes include seven of Frye's handwritten notebooks and five collections of his typed notebooks - all previously unpublished. The material is the record of an extraordinary intellectual odyssey, an odyssey that is, at its base, deeply spiritual.

The Secular Scripture: A Study of the Structure of Romance (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)
Average customer rating:

A Clear Explanation of Archetypal Theory

Not Frye's best book

The Secular Scripture: A Study of the Structure of Romance (The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures)
Northrop Frye
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Literary Theory | History & Criticism | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
General | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Semiotics | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Romanticism | Movements & Periods | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Frye, Northrop | ( F ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Northrop Frye, Myth and Metaphor: Selected Essays, 1974-1988

The Double Vision: Language and Meaning in Religion

Fables Of Identity: Studies In Poetic Mythology

Northrop Frye on Shakespeare

Words With Power: Being A Second Study "The Bible And Literature"

ASIN: 0674796764

Customer Reviews:

A Clear Explanation of Archetypal Theory.......2002-09-19

For the past couple of years, I have had an avid interest in Literary Criticism. I tend to be a traditionalist in this area, and so have a lot of respect for Northrop Frye, who was the last great proponent of an objective view of literature.

Frye's most important work is The Anatomy of Criticism, which is very insightful, but can also be difficult to understand, especially for someone new to Critical Theory.

Secular Scripture is an in-depth application of the theories presented in Anatomy of Criticism to one particular branch of literature: romance. As such, it relies more upon concrete examples than upon abstract reason, and is much easier to understand. If you are looking for a good introduction to archetypal theory in literature, this is probably the book for you.

Not Frye's best book.......2001-08-28

Northrop Frye is probably *the* most important and most influential English-language literary critic of the 20th century-- and certainly the most important one to come from North America. _The Secular Scripture_, however, is not one of his better-known books, and that's probably for the best, as it's one of his weaker efforts. Thebook consists of six chapters, which were originally delivered as lectures during a 'special guest' stint he did at Harvard/Radcliffe a few decades back. The ostensible subject of these lectures (and, by extension, this book) is the literary genre of romance. However, like all of Frye's books, the specific topic is discussed within the context of Frye's theory of literature in general. Thus, _The Secular Scripture_ introduces the reader to Frye's general theories, such as the idea that literature possesses the same structure as myth, that there are essentially four main mythoi or plots of literature (comedy, romance, tragedy, and irony), that recurrent literary motifs/images tend to be structured around the mythic opposition of an ideally imagined world and a nightmarish demonic one, and that the only real difference between "realistic" literature and "fantastic literature) is that the mythic elements in the latter are most obvious and are presented with little narrative concealment, whereas those in the former tend to be displaced, or otherwise altered so as to be fitted into a context of "plausibility". It is within the context of these general ideas about literature that Frye enumerates what he sees as being the particular character of romance. For those unfamiliar with Frye's terminology, "romance" here does not refer to the kind of genre fiction that is typically marketed as romance-- i.e. the classic Harlequin romance or'bodice-ripper' tale. Or rather, it does not refer *only* (or even primarily) to such stories. Frye uses "romance" to describe a general type of story pattern-- one that usually involves a quest-- and which results in the hero or heroine enduring much suffering, difficulty, and adventure before finally attaining his/her goal (which may or may not even have been known to him/her earlier on). It can be a grand 'quest' in the sense of the medieval romances centered around knights (e.g. the quest for the Holy Grail. It may be a kind of spiritual fulfillment, realization, or redemption-- as in Apuleius's _The Golden Ass_ or in many narratives of the lives of saints. Or it be a quest for knowledge/solutions to some problem (most detective stories are romances, Frye notes, as are many spy stories). Most works in the genres of "fantasy" and "science-fiction" fall into this category as well. And yes, it can be a quest for "true love" or "erotic fulfillment" as in the case of the dimestore bodice-rippers that are called romances. And, of course, it can also be applied to a whole host of other works of literature-- novels, poems, plays, etc., including allegorical literature like _A Pilgrim's Progress_ and _The Faerie Queen_. What defines romance, in Frye's schema, is not the object of the quest (or still less contemporary marketing terms like "mystery", "fantasy", "sci-fi", or "romance"), but the overall structure and pattern of the narrative. In spite of its many variations (which have their own particular subconventions), romance as a whole, in all its forms, has an overall story pattern and structure that is unified, recognizable, and quite distict from the three other 'mythoi' of literature: comedy, tragedy, and irony. So, what does Frye actually have to say about romance in _The Secular Scripture_? Well, for the most part, the book is concerned with outlining the structural conventions of romance as a whole-- and specifically in outlining what it's features are and what makes it different from other types of narrative structures (i.e. why is it a romance and not a comedy). This mis most evident in the three 'main' chapters that deal specifically with the substance/structure of the form-- "Heroes and Heroines of Romance", "Themes of Descent" and "Themes of Ascent". Unfortunately, those are also the weakest chapters. The main reason for this, I think, is that Frye has already outlined his basic intellectual schema of what romance is, how it is structured, etc., by those chapters-- and he ends up filling them with many paraphrased illustrations to prove his points, in a whole host of variations and subvarations. Don't get me wrong-- it's good that he backs up his theoretical argument with textual illustrations-- but there's something about these chapters that seems kind of "cyclopedic", like it's just a list of illustration after illustration ad nauseam. Put briefly, I just don't think that those specific chapters *add* anything really to his argument any more than 1-2 well chosen illustrations could have done. His concluding chapter, is also somewhat weak-- in it, he essentially abandons the subject of romance and instead speaks about the merits of literary study and education as a means for coming to understand the "social mythologies" that govern our own art, assumptions, prejudices, etc. in real life. While I agree with him on this point, it's an inappropriate conclusion to a book on *romance*-- and it's a point he makes much better in "The Educated Imagination". All in all, I'd have to say that this book is worth reading if you've already read Frye's classic _The Anatomy of Criticism_ (which discusses romance at good length), but want further exposition-- and maybe a bit more contextualization or illustration. (Or, if you found _Anatomy_ a bit dense, the first chapter of _Secular Scripture_ is a good summary of the *general* viewpoint that Frye outlines in _Anatomy_. It also has an excellent discussion of what "myth" is, and how the term should be understood in a literary context). However, it's not Frye's best-- and it shouldn't be the first work by him you encounter. If your looking for his masterwork, read _Anatomy of Criticism_ which is dense, but immensely rewarding. Or, if you're looking for something more accessible, read _The Educated Imagination_ first. Or even read his specific studies of the Bible, Blake, Shakespeare, etc. It's not that this book is bad, mind you-- but it just isn't his best work.

Authors:

Authors

Authors