Year: 1973
Author: Frye Northrop
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0-691-01298-9; 0-691-06004-5
English language
Format:DJVU
Interactive table of contents: Yes
Number of Pages: 396
From the encyclopedia "Western literary criticism of the XX century":
FRY Northrop Herman (FRYE Northrop Herman) (14.VII.1912, Sherbrooke, Quebec - 23.1.1991, Toronto) is a Canadian literary critic. He received his higher education at the University of Toronto (1933), where he studied theology, philosophy, literature. He continued his education in Oxford (1936-1938). In 1939 he returned to the University of Toronto and worked there all his life. Over sixty years of scientific activity he published more than forty books, over 500 articles and other works. A special study in 1979 found that the name of F. is ninth in terms of the frequency of mention in humanitarian publications. His work "Anatomy of Criticism" (1957) - the most quoted from all literary books of the XX century.
Fry entered the history of modern literary criticism as the greatest theoretician and as a "practical" critic. His program book "Anatomy of Criticism" consists of four independent essays and represents a grandiose theoretical construction, which is based on the desire of Fry to explore literature by purely literary methods. The proposed cyclical scheme of the development of literature begins with an ancient myth and returns to the "ironic myth" (the work of modernists F. Kafka, J. Joyce, etc.) in our time. To construct this, as well as more specific schemes for the development of literature, Fry uses almost the entire arsenal of humanitarian theories - from Aristotle to Frazer, Freud, Jung, structuralism, "new criticism" and even partly deconstructionism. Fry identifies myth and ritual - on the one hand, myth and archetype - on the other, preferring to apply the concept of "myth" to the narrative, and "archetype" - to its meaning, meaning.
In the first of four essays that make up the "Anatomy of Criticism" - "Historical Criticism: Theory of Modes", Frey presents the history of literature as a history of the development of its "modes", species, thus demonstrating its interest in the internal dialectics of the development of literature. In the basis of the characteristics of modes Fry put the type of hero, as Aristotle did in his time to characterize the tragedy and comedy. Beginning with the myth, literature passes into a romantic mode, the hero of which is no longer God, as in myth, but possesses supernatural abilities. Then follows the "high-mimetic" mode of literature (a tragedy in the broad sense, where the hero is above other people, but "depends on the conditions of terrestrial existence") and "low-kommetic mode" (comedy and realistic literature). The evolution of species ends with the "ironic" mode (modern modern literature, which links with the ancient myth). In the second and third essays, Fry suggests that literature is "self-sufficient", its main goal is not to reflect reality, but to "produce words for themselves". This position brings him closer to the "new critics", some of whose ideas he willingly weaves into his theory of creativity. Fry identifies several phases of symbolism: descriptive, archetypal and "analogous." The symbolism of the first two phases is used to express certain "external aims of art", whereas "analogous" symbolism is created by art "standing on its own feet", pursuing its own goals and creating its own world. In the fourth essay "Anatomy of Criticism", Fry critically examines the theory of genres and suggests their own classification. In myth, he sees the main force that gives literature its genre form.
POLEMICAL INTRODUCTION 3
FIRST ESSAY. Historical Criticism: Theory of Modes 31
Fictional Modes: Introduction 33
Tragic Fictional Modes 35
Comic Fictional Modes 43
Thematic Modes 52
SECOND ESSAY. Ethical Criticism: Theory of Symbols 69
Introduction 71
Literal and Descriptive Phases: Symbol as Motif and as Sign 73
Formal Phase: Symbol as Image 82
Mythical Phase: Symbol as Archetype 95
Anagogic Phase: Symbol as Monad 115
THIRD ESSAY. Archetypal Criticism: Theory of Myths 129
Introduction 131
Theory of Archetypal Meaning (1): Apocalyptic Imagery 141
Theory of Archetypal Meaning (2): Demonic Imagery 147
Theory of Archetypal Meaning (3): Analogical Imagery 151
Theory of Mythos: Introduction 158
The Mythos of Spring: Comedy 163
The Mythos of Summer: Romance 186
The Mythos of Autumn: Tragedy 206
The Mythos of Winter: Irony and Satire 223
FOURTH ESSAY. Rhetorical Criticism: Theory of Genres 241
Introduction 243
The Rhythm of Recurrence: Epos 251
The Rhythm of Continuity: Prose 263
The Rhythm of Decorum: Drama 268
The Rhythm of Association: Lyric 270
Specific Forms of Drama 282
Specific Thematic Forms (Lyric and Epos) 293
Specific Continuous Forms (Prose Fiction) 303
Specific Encyclopaedic Forms 315
The Rhetoric of Non-Literary Prose 326
TENTATIVE CONCLUSION 341
NOTES 357
GLOSSARY 365
INDEX 369
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