Words With Power: Being a Second Study of The Bible and Literature - Hardcover

Frye, Northrop

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 015198462X ISBN 13: 9780151984626

Publisher: Harcourt, 1990

Synopsis

Argues that all mythologies are transmitted and diversified by literature, and discusses the social function of literature and the role of metaphor

About this title

About the Author:

Northrop Frye (1912-1991) was one of the twentieth century's most influential English scholars and literary critics. Northrop Frye was a professor in the Department of English at Victoria University in the University of Toronto from 1939 until his death. His works include Words with Power and Anatomy of Criticism.

Michael Dolzani is a professor in the Department of English at Baldwin-Wallace College.

Review:

Frye (1912-1991) analyzes the Bible's imagery, narrative structure and influence upon literary classics in his tremendously rich sequel to The Great Code: The Bible and Literature . (Publishers Weekly)

In his introduction to The Great Code ( LJ 6/1/82), Frye promised a sequel to his work on "the Bible and literature." Here is the promised volume, though it is not an entirely new book. In Part 1, Frye restates his critical position, his structural principle: the identity of mythology and literature. In Part 2, he focuses on specific mythological themes (mountain, garden, cave, furnace) that are variations of the cosmic axis mundi image. Throughout, he demonstrates his interest in the mythological structures that inform literature, including the Bible, instead of simply the literary characteristics of the Bible. While it is undeniable that myths often serve as structuring elements in the Bible, occasionally Frye allows myth criticism to overwhelm the text rather than shed light upon it. Thus there is the risk of forcing the text into the pre-established structure. This aside, there is enlightenment available for readers willing to work through it. Recommended.
- Craig W. Beard, Har ding Univ. Lib., Searcy, Ark.
(Library Journal)

About this edition

• Publisher: Harcourt
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 015198462X
• ISBN 13: 9780151984626
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 342