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Northrop Frye's Fiction and Miscellaneous Writings, the thirteenth and final volume of previously unpublished writings by the famous literary critic, retrieves a number of materials from the Frye archives - holograph notebooks, typed notes, and typescripts - that have been largely hidden until now. Among these are autobiographical reflections, short stories, an unfinished novel, and writings on a wide range of topics from Canadian culture to religion.

Some of the contents of this volume, Frye's early fiction efforts, for example, will come as a surprise to those primarily acquainted with his published criticism. All of his fables and dialogues are included here, as are a half-dozen sets of notes in which he speculates on fictional forms that he dreams of one day writing. These and the other pieces in this miscellany offer further evidence of Frye's fertile mind, quick wit, expansive imagination, and verbal power. Frye always claimed that the process of writing for him was a search for proper formulas through which to communicate. The material in this volume, which seldom fails to instruct and delight, discloses the process of that search.

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Highlighting aspects of his scholarship seldom given sufficient emphasis, this new volume of the Collected Works of Northrop Frye documents Frye?s writings on the literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (apart from those on William Blake, which are featured in other volumes).

The volume includes Frye?s seminal 1956 essay ?Towards Defining an Age of Sensibility? and the highly influential 1968 book A Study of English Romanticism. With these pieces and the other published and unpublished works contained in the volume, Frye changed the way the transition from the major Augustan figures to the Romantics was viewed. These works are a central part of Frye?s long and radical rethinking of the relation of romance and Romanticism and, through them, he emerges as a meticulous textual critic, teasing out the fine brushstroke effects in writers as varied as Boswell and Beddoes, Dickens and Dickinson.

Imre Salusinszky?s introduction and annotation illuminates Frye?s writing and guides the reader along the path of Frye?s five-decade development of thought on Romanticism. This volume is an invaluable contribution to studies on Frye, as well as to Romantic and Victorian literature.

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In this provocative essay, David Adams Richards brings together his ideas about writing -- how great works of literature are created, the writer's essential position as an outsider, and the difficulties writers experience in the pursuit of personal truth. The quest for truth always comes with a price, says Richards, but it also results in freedom for writers and their characters, and sometimes results in great works of literature. Says Richards, "What I say to young writers is never fear that you too will be evaluated most harshly in your life for telling the truth. That the truth, not as others see it, but as you do, can only be told by you . . . The most important gift you can give the world is to write how you feel . . . There are no guarantees if you do this, but there is no hope if you do not." Playing the Inside Out is the Second Antonine Maillet-Northrop Frye Lecture, sponsored by the Université de Moncton. It was presented on April 28, 2007 in Moncton, New Brunswick, at the 2007 Frye Festival. ... Read more

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Originally published by Anansi in 1971, this attractive new edition of Frye's timeless essays on literature and painting features an introduction by Canadian literature scholar Linda Hutcheon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

not your baby preschool reader???
this is a textbook for the beginner from adonis to wordsworth this book is filled with the history of poet,myth and knowledge . A text book that I might add is a pleasure to read and illustated in a very unique way . From Greek myth to modern clothes .. a far range with much ado about nothing in between . ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Frye argues that Shakespeare's comedy is widely underestimated, and that the four romances-Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest-are theculmination of the poet's career. ... Read more

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Comedy is more serious than tragedy
Northrop Frye is one of the greatest Shakespeare critics of all time (and there have been many).For those who think comedy is a trivial art form, this book will change your mind.Comedy is more serious than tragedy, andFrye illuminates not only Shakespeare's comedies but all comedy.He showswhy Shakespeare's comedies are just as important, if not more important,than his tragedies because they pave the way for the romances which are theculmination of Shakespeare's work.The comedies and romances reveal thebounty and plentitude of life, and expose the basic illusions that keep acommunity from flourishing.They are a celebration of life.Any lover ofShakespeare will be in awe of Frye's admiration for the Bard and the joy hetakes in writing about him.No reader can come away from this experiencewithout a deeper appreciation of the greatest writer of all time. ... Read more

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Eliot never looked so attractive
Northrop Frye's introduction to T.S. Eliot is a valuable book, both for those who are not familiar with Eliot and for those who are but just devour all the information about him that they can (like me). This is a very slim volume, about 100 pages, and divided into five sections. The first section gives the reader a brief biography of Eliot, just to lay out the landscape. The second section progresses into Eliot's beliefs both spiritual and literary, giving one an idea of the issues he was most concerned with and which therefore influenced his poetry. The last three sections deal with the poems themselves, first giving an overview of Eliot's style and common themes in his work &etc., then getting more in-depth with the individual poems. As always with Frye, there are many outstanding insights, some I've never heard or read anywhere previously, and others I have, but never quite understood till he explained it in that coherent way he explains everything- then it all finally makes sense! This book has added to my pleasure of reading Eliot moreso than any other introduction or collection of essays on Eliot has. Those psychoanalysts and post-structuralists have done Eliot a disservice by their attempts at criticism and biography- the way they write about him makes him sound so prosaic and unappealing! Frye obviously knows his subject well, and he writes about him in a lucid, engaging, unpretentious fashion, helping the reader grasp concepts in Eliot's works which would otherwise prove daunting. Everyone who loves Eliot needs to own this book. Also, if you're a student struggling to understand Eliot, do yourself a favour and find this volume! It is out of print, but you may be able to purchase a copy on the 'net. If not, your local library or used book store may have it.

One final note: this book is not necessarily helpful if you're looking to understand a specific poem of Eliot's and that's it. This is more of an overview of Eliot's poetry and a study of its evolution, or as one reviewer put it: "Frye's study takes a more holistic view of Eliot's career; and it's especially successful in relating Eliot's literary theory to his practice and various works (written in different periods) to each other." ... Read more

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"... twelve essays in which this visionary literary critic speaks specifically to the eternal act of creation, addressing the incessant need for literary revisioning." -- Studies in Religion

These essays, four of which are published here for the first time, reveal one of the most extraordinary minds of our time engaging a wide range of literary, cultural, and religious issues. Frye gave these addresses during the last decade of his life, and they reveal this distinguished critic speaking with wit and wisdom about the permanent forms of human civilization and engaging in the eternal act of creation.

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Seeking refuge from her mysterious past, the beautiful Mrs. Dorval arrives in a small British Columbia town at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. As Frankie Burnaby, the young schoolgirl Mrs. Dorval befriends, pieces together Hetty’s story, she begins to realize that her enigmatic idol is also a treacherous opponent.

Hetty Dorval, Wilson’s first novel, is a wise and expertly crafted tale of innocence and experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Magical novella about smashing your own idols
Ethel Wilson's first work is well worth reading if only for her exquisitely crafted prose; she is clearly one of the finest and most influential Canadian writers of the twentieth century. Her clear influence on Alice Munro is incredibly marked, and indeed HETTY DORVAL (like much of Wilson's other work) would fit beautifully right into a current issue of the NEW YORKER. In this coming-of-age novella, the heroine meets as a girl the beautiful and wealthy Hetty Dorval, who lives in her small British Columbian town under a cloud of gossip and suspicion. As the years pass, her encounters with Hetty multiply in different cities and continents, and she begins to realize that Hetty is much more than she claims to be. This is clearly a first work, and some of the scenes in the text (particularly near the end, with the revelation scene and the unlikely scene of Hetty spending the night in the heroine's bed) seem poorly thought through. But the famous closing sentences of the work show Wilson's larger ideational framework brilliantly, posing the question as to what finally really matters in the end when mere human corruption and fallibility is compared to genuine evil. The singular atmosphere of the tale--its lovely evocation of North American wilderness viewed through a wealthy class-conscious sensibility--also makes it a splendid work. This is a fine first work by a major writer, and deserves to be read in other countries besides its own.

Pure Fluff
This is one of the most bewildering stories I've ever read. There is virtually no plot; the build-up of suspense over the "treacherous" Mrs. Dorval amounts to nothing more than rumour and gossip. Absolutely nothing happens! The book ends so abruptly that I thought someone had torn out the final chapters. ... Read more

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