The Critical Path and Other Writings on Critical Theory, 1963–1975

by O'Grady, Jean; Kushner, Eva

• ISBN13: 9780802096258
• ISBN10: 0802096255
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781442687783
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-03-19
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr
• More Book Details

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Credits	p. xiii
Abbreviations	p. xv
Introduction	p. xix
The Critical Path: An Essay on the Social Context of Literary Criticism	p. 3
Literary Criticism	p. 118
Myth and Poetry	p. 134
Preface to Bachelard's The Psychoanalysis of Fire	p. 139
After the Invocation, a Lapse into Litany	p. 143
Criticism, Visible and Invisible	p. 147
The Structure and Spirit of Comedy	p. 162
The Norms of Satire	p. 170
Allegory	p. 171
Verse and Prose	p. 178
Varieties of Literary Utopias	p. 191
Letter to the English Institute, 1965	p. 215
Reflections in a Mirror	p. 218
Design as a Creative Principle in the Arts	p. 228
Literature and Myth	p. 238
Welcoming Remarks to Conference on Editorial Problems, 1967	p. 256
On Value Judgments	p. 258
Literature and Society	p. 266
Mythos and Logos	p. 280
The Myth of Light	p. 282
Old and New Comedy	p. 285
Sign and Significance	p. 293
Literature and the Law	p. 301
The Search for Acceptable Words	p. 310
The Times of the Signs	p. 331
The Rhythms of Time	p. 358
Charms and Riddles	p. 369
Expanding Eyes	p. 391
Notes	p. 411
Emendations	p. 457
Index	p. 459
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