Edited by Jean O'Grady and Eva Kushner.
This volume, which collects Northrop Frye's writings on the theory of literary criticism from the middle period of his career, includes one of Frye's own favourites, 'The Critical Path' (1971). A highly important marker of Frye's career, 'The Critical Path' openly addresses topics that he had previously been reluctant to discuss as fully, including the importance of literature to society, the responsibilities of critics, and the deeper rationales for studying literature. Filled with insightful texts that indicate his transition from literary critic to a theorist of language, myth, and human culture, this edition helps to illuminate many of the ideas and arguments that would appear later in 'The Great Code' and 'Words with Power'. Accompanied by the rigorous scholarship for which the series is renowned, this is another valuable contribution to literary criticism and theory.
Author(s): Northrop Frye
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 496
Preface
Credits
Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Critical Path: An Essay on the Social Context of Literary Criticism
2. Literary Criticism
3. Myth and Poetry
4. Preface to Bachelard's 'The Psychoanalysis of Fire'
5. After the Invocation, a Lapse into Litany
6. Criticism, Visible and Invisible
7. The Structure and Spirit of Comedy
8. The Norms of Satire
9. Allegory
10. Verse and Prose
11. Varieties of Literary Utopias
12. Letter to the English Institute, 1965
13. Reflections in a Mirror
14. Design as a Creative Principle in the Arts
15. Literature and Myth
16. Welcoming Remarks to Conference on Editorial Problems, 1967
17. On Value Judgments
18. Literature and Society
19. 'Mythos' and 'Logos'
20. The Myth of Light
21. Old and New Comedy
22. Sign and Significance
23. Literature and the Law
24. The Search for Acceptable Words
25. The Times of the Signs
26. The Rhythms of Time
27. Charms and Riddles
28. Expanding Eyes
Notes
Emendations
Index
