Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Literary Criticism Canadian

The Secular Scripture and Other Writings on Critical Theory, 1976-1991

by (author) Northrop Frye

edited by Joseph Adamson & Jean Wilson

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Jul 2006
Category
Canadian
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802039453
    Publish Date
    Jul 2006
    List Price
    $149.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442658325
    Publish Date
    Dec 2006
    List Price
    $127.00

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

Northrop Frye’s The Secular Scripture was first published in 1976 and was soon recognized as one of his most influential works, reflecting an extensive development of Frye’s thoughts about romance as a literary form. This new edition in the Collected Works of Northrop Frye series brings The Secular Scripture together with thirty shorter pieces pertaining to literary theory and criticism from the last fifteen years of Frye’s life.

Frye’s study illuminates the enduring attraction and deep human significance of the romance genre in all its forms. He provides a unique perspective on popular fiction and culture and shows how romance forms have, by their very structural and conventional features, an ability to address both specific social concerns and deep and fundamental human concerns that span time and place. In distinguishing popular from elite culture, Frye insists that they are both ultimately two aspects of the same “human compulsion to create in the face of chaos.” The additional late writings reflect Frye’s sense at the time that he was working “toward some kind of final statement,” which eventually saw the light of day, only months before his death, as Words with Power (1990).

About the authors

Northrop Frye (1912-1991) was one of Canada's most distinguished men of letters. His first book, Fearful Symmetry, published in 1947, transformed the study of the poet William Blake, and over the next forty years he transformed the study of literature itself. Among his most influential books are Anatomy of Criticism (1957), The Educated Imagination (1963), The Bush Garden (1971), and The Great Code (1982). Northrop Frye on Shakespeare (1986) won the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction. A professor at the University of Toronto, Frye gained an international reputation for his wide-reaching critical vision. He lectured at universities around the world and received many awards and honours, including thirty-six honorary degrees.

Northrop Frye's profile page

Joseph Adamson is a professor in the Department of English and the Comparative Literature Program at McMaster University.

Joseph Adamson's profile page

Jean Wilson is an associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics and the Comparative Literature Program at McMaster University.

Jean Wilson's profile page