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Author

Northrop Frye

Other affiliations: University of Iowa
Bio: Northrop Frye is an academic researcher from American Academy of Religion. The author has contributed to research in topics: Literary criticism & Poetry. The author has an hindex of 30, co-authored 159 publications receiving 7462 citations. Previous affiliations of Northrop Frye include University of Iowa.


Papers
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Book
01 Jan 1957

1,889 citations

Book
01 Jan 1965
TL;DR: Frye as mentioned in this paper reconceived literary criticism as a total history rather than a linear progression through time, and argued that literature 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 joy of life.
Abstract: 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.

1,535 citations

Book
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: In this new edition, Lee's extensive annotation illustrates, beyond question, that Frye's knowledge of the Bible and how it has worked in Western culture was at once profound and visionary as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Considered by many to be Northrop Frye's magnum opus, The Great Code (1982) reflects a lifetime of thinking about the patterns and meanings of the Bible. In this new edition of The Great Code, Alvin A. Lee presents a corrected and fully annotated version of Frye's text, as well as a comprehensive introduction to help contextualize this important work and guide readers through its allusive passages. Lee's introduction provides a synoptic account of the role of the Bible in Frye's intellectual and spiritual odyssey, as well as a description of how The Great Code as a book came into existence, and an introductory critique of the shape and meaning of the book's argument. The Great Code is culturally allusive to a high degree. It takes much of its inspiration from the Bible itself, including a profusion of biblical passages, but also from the author's extensive reading of a host of other texts from ancient times until the late twentieth century. Lee's extensive annotation illustrates, beyond question, that Frye's knowledge of the Bible and how it has worked in Western culture was at once profound and visionary. This new edition not only re-presents Frye's text in a clear, correct, and fully annotated form, it goes a long way in helping us understand the widespread scholarly and popular reception that met this extraordinary and in some ways revolutionary book and how it can still be richly rewarding for readers.

520 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Our Lady of Pain: Heroes and Heroines of Romance 4. The Bottomless Dream: Themes of Descent 5. Quis Hic Locus? Themes Of Ascent 6. The Recovery of Myth Notes Index as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: 1. The Word and World of Man 2. The Context of Romance 3. Our Lady of Pain: Heroes and Heroines of Romance 4. The Bottomless Dream: Themes of Descent 5. Quis Hic Locus? Themes of Ascent 6. The Recovery of Myth Notes Index

324 citations

Book
01 Jan 1963
TL;DR: The Motive for Metaphor 2 The Singing School 3 Giants in Time 4 The Keys to Dreamland 5 Verticals of Adam 6 The Vocation of Eloquence as mentioned in this paper
Abstract: 1 The Motive For Metaphor 2 The Singing School 3 Giants in Time 4 The Keys to Dreamland 5 Verticals of Adam 6 The Vocation of Eloquence

269 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors briefly survey forms of narrative inquiry in educational studies and outline certain criteria, methods, and writing forms, which they describe in terms of beginning the story, living the story and selecting stories to construct and reconstruct narrative plots.
Abstract: Although narrative inquiry has a long intellectual history both in and out of education, it is increasingly used in studies of educational experience. One theory in educational research holds that humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and socially, lead storied lives. Thus, the study of narrative is the study of the ways humans experience the world. This general concept is refined into the view that education and educational research is the construction and reconstruction of personal and social stories; learners, teachers, and researchers are storytellers and characters in their own and other's stories. In this paper we briefly survey forms of narrative inquiry in educational studies and outline certain criteria, methods, and writing forms, which we describe in terms of beginning the story, living the story, and selecting stories to construct and reconstruct narrative plots. Certain risks, dangers, and abuses possible in narrative studies are discussed. We conclude by describing a two-part r...

4,981 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a conception of genre based on conventionalized social motives which are found in recurrent situation-types is proposed, and the thesis is that genre must be conceived in terms of rhetorical action rather than substance or form.
Abstract: This essay proposes a conception of genre based on conventionalized social motives which are found in recurrent situation‐types. The thesis is that genre must be conceived in terms of rhetorical action rather than substance or form.

2,796 citations

Book
01 Jan 1985
TL;DR: McCloskey as discussed by the authors describes how economic discourse employs metaphor, authority, symmetry, and other rhetorical means of persuasion, showing economists to be human persuaders and poets of the marketplace, even in their most technical and mathematical moods.
Abstract: In this revised second edition, Deirdre McCloskey demonstrates how economic discourse employs metaphor, authority, symmetry and other rhetorical means of persuasion. ""The Rhetoric of Economics"" shows economists to be human persuaders and poets of the marketplace, even in their most technical and mathematical moods. It is further enhanced by three new chapters and two new bibliographies.

2,068 citations

Book
20 Oct 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, Postman alerts us to the real and present dangers of this state of affairs, and offers compelling suggestions as to how to withstand the media onslaught and how to shape our lives to serve out highest goals.
Abstract: Television has conditioned us to tolerate visually entertaining material measured out in spoonfuls of time, to the detriment of rational public discourse and reasoned public affairs. In this eloquent, persuasive book, Neil Postman alerts us to the real and present dangers of this state of affairs, and offers compelling suggestions as to how to withstand the media onslaught. Before we hand over politics, education, religion, and journalism to the show business demands of the television age, we must recognize the ways in which the media shape our lives and the ways we can, in turn, shape them to serve out highest goals.

1,645 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a theory of human communication based on a conception of persons as homo narrans is proposed, and the viability of the narrative paradigm and its attendant notions of reason and rationality are demonstrated through an extended analysis of key aspects of the current nuclear war controversy and a brief application to The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Abstract: This essay proposes a theory of human communication based on a conception of persons as homo narrans. It compares and contrasts this view with the traditional rational perspective on symbolic interaction. The viability of the narrative paradigm and its attendant notions of reason and rationality are demonstrated through an extended analysis of key aspects of the current nuclear war controversy and a brief application to The Epic of Gilgamesh. The narrative paradigm synthesizes two strands in rhetorical theory: the argumentative, persuasive theme and the literary, aesthetic theme.

1,546 citations