New Releases by Northrop Frye

Northrop Frye discusses with David Cayley his life as a teacher and scholar, focusing on the university as "the engine room of society." This fascinating book concludes with Frye''s thoughts on religion and his writings on the Bible.

A World in a Grain of Sand is a collection of twenty-two interviews with Northrop Frye from the early 1960s through the 1980s. Frye responds to a wide range of questions about the media, education, religion, literary theory, language, music, and literature itself - from Plato and the Bible to Milton, Blake, Shelley, and Melville. Half of the interviews, transcribed from tape recordings, are published here for the first time. Throughout the collection the reader will discover a richly stored mind, often expressing itself in an ironic mode, arguing for the value of both the liberal tradition and the visionary imagination. What emerges finally from the interviews is Frye''s own broad vision of the social function of words.

Offers fresh insights into ten of Shakespeare''s most popular plays, relating each of these works to others and discussing many of the central elements of Shakespearean drama

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

"Northrop Frye''s The Well-Tempered Critic is a brilliant take on writing, academia, and culture as a whole. His book is unique from other critiques on literary theory as he emphasizes the importance of the language spoken and not just language written. Frye writes in his first chapter, "Good writing must be based on good speech, it will never come alive it is based on reading alone." "Frye divides language into a three-part model and walks the reader through each little nook-and-cranny of his idea. He divides language into the Poetic (rhythm caused by the beat of the words), Prose (rhythm caused by the sentence), and Associate (informal, everyday kind of talk.) Frye also divides the written language into his last chapter: Hieratic (High style) and Demiotic (low style). "Frye''s work is full of insight and intellectualism, and void of the intimidation factor which might be associated with a piece by Keats, Bloom, Eagleton, and other big name critics. Frye''s diction is invitingly instructive, docilely dense, and meekly meticulous. His attention to detail and organization of thought work well to ensure the reader?s comprehension of Frye''s obvious intellect." -- By D.A. Wetherell

"A world-renowned critic and scholar examines the continuing cultural importance of the Bible as the single most important influence in the imaginative tradition of Western art and literature. Frye rejects both dogmatic and literal interpretations while celebrating the uniqueness of the Bible as distinct from all other epics and sacred texts. His highly original analysis shows the Bible as redeeming history with a visionary poetic perspective that complements science in the understanding of man''s nature."--Book cover.

Presents a series of lectures on the theological and sociological aspects of creation doctrine.

"This book is an anthology. It covers the forms and varieties of fiction, poetry, and drama, moving from the simple elements to the more subtle and complex, with introductory principles and questions to guide the student''s progress ... "--Preface, page xix.

In the Alexander Lectures for 1965-66 at the University of Toronto, Dr. Frye describes the basis of the tragic vision as "being in time," in which death as "the essential event that gives shape and form to life ... defines the individual, and marks him off from the continuity of life that flows indefinitely between the past and the future." In Dr. Frye''s view, three general types can be distinguished in Shakespearean tragedy, the tragedy of order, the tragedy of passion, and the tragedy of isolation, in all of which a pattern of "being in time" shapes the action. In the first type, of which Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet are examples, a strong ruler is killed, replaced by a rebel-figure, and avenged by a nemesis-figure; in the second, represented by Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Troilus and Cressida, authority is split and the hero is destroyed by a conflict between social and personal loyalties; and in the third, Othello, King Lear, and Timon of Athens, the central figure is cut off from his world, largely as a result of his failure to comprehend the dynamics of that world. What all these plays show us, Dr. Frye maintains, is "the impact of heroic energy on the human situation" with the result that the "heroic is normally destroyed ... and the human situation goes on surviving." Fools of Time will be welcomed not only by many scholars who are familiar with Dr. Frye''s keen critical insight but also by undergraduates, graduates, high-school and university teachers who have long valued his work as a means toward a firmer grasp and deeper understanding of English literature.

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.