The Poetic Frye
| Autor: | Jean O'Grady |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1999 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Canadian Studies. 34:15-26 |
| ISSN: | 1911-0251 0021-9495 |
| DOI: | 10.3138/jcs.34.4.15 |
| Popis: | This essay surveys the major achievements and world-wide acclaim that give substance to Northrop Frye's reputation as one of the most influential Canadians of the twentieth century. It points out, however, that Frye did not succeed in his project to establish criticism as a discipline with its own accepted axioms based on an acknowledgement of the unity of literature. Rather than concluding that the more theoretical works have been superseded, however, the essay argues that they may now be read as imaginative creations approaching poetry, embodying an insight nourished by literature but focussed on the human condition itself. Cet article examine les accomplissements principaux et la reconnaissance mondiale qui ont aide a solidifier la reputation de Northrop Frye en tant qu'un des Canadiens les plus influents du vingtieme siecle. II precise cependant que Frye n'a pas reussi son projet d'etablir la critique comme une discipline acceptee avec ses propres axiomes et bases sur une reconnaissance de l'unite du champ litteraire. Plutot que de conclure que les travaux theoriques ont ete remplaces, Particle suggere qu'ils peuvent maintenant etre lus en tant que creations imaginatives s'approchant de la poesie, incarnant une perspicacite nourrie par la litterature, mais concentree sur l'etat humain lui-meme. It is not necessary to refer to the recent spate of pre-millennium polls on important figures of the twentieth century to establish that Northrop Frye has been a towering presence in Canadian intellectual life. One thinks, for instance, of the undergraduate at Victoria College who went through a religious crisis. A fervent believer in her first year, she was in despair in her second when her studies convinced her that there was no God. But her equanimity returned in her third year: she discovered that Northrop Frye was God. Without going quite so far, one may nevertheless recognize that Frye's reputation and influence have been enormous. His work is inseparable from the growth of Canadian culture into maturity. Throughout his career he wrote on our literature and explored the national psyche; his last major speech (delivered to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) was on the cultural development of the country. The astounding recent flowering of Canadian literature - a phenomenon which Frye hailed as one of the most gratifying to occur in his lifetime - arguably owes something to his efforts as a reviewer and commentator. Between 1951 and 1961 he was responsible for the poetry section of the University of Toronto Quarterly's review of the year's literature, reading virtually every poem published in the country during the preceding year. He wrote his commentary on the year's work not to judge poems by an international standard but to elucidate them and to create the informed and interested reading public which is one of the conditions necessary for a mature literature. Frye had a gift for combining profound thought and quotable aphorism, as in his remark that "Americans like to make money; Canadians like to audit it." Phrases such as the "garrison mentality" or the question "Where is here?" have become part of the national consciousness. Scarcely a day goes by without some columnist or writer of a letter to the editor citing Frye to bolster a point. He has become a national icon, one of the defining voices of Canada. But of course Frye's reputation spreads far beyond Canada. He is often mentioned in the same breath with Marshall McLuhan - a pairing that rather annoyed both of them - as one of the few Canadian thinkers of world stature. His works have now been translated into 17 languages, including Serbo-Croatian, Korean and Portuguese. He is particularly revered in Italy: the University of Bologna gave him an honorary doctorate in 1979 and he was the subject of a three-day conference in Rome in 1987. But, perhaps surprisingly, he is proving to have much to offer to non-European countries. … |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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