"It has been long known that legends of a great flood, in which almost all men perished, are widely diffused over the world; and accordingly what I have tried to do is to collect and compare these legends, and to inquire what conclusions are to be deduced from the comparison." Frazer: Folklore in the Old Testament (pg. 105)Randomly opening Folklore in the Old Testament, this is what I discovered. I was stunned and pleased simultaneously, knowing the importance of the material we are covering in class. Opening my blog sight, intending to write about Frye, I am now on an uncharted path, hurtling towards an epiphany...
I will start with the quote from Frye: "I am still too close to it to guess how useful this second part will be, but the success of a book that takes no risks is hardly worth achieving." Frye Intro pg. xxii
Now, contextually, Frye, in his Introduction, is speaking about the second part of Words With Power. The second part of this book, according to NF, is intended to outline why the poets subjected to extensive study are ones who use the kind of imagery he identifies in the first part of the book and also is bent towards covering the idea of axis mundi(vertical dimension of cosmos linking upper and lower worlds). In the true form of a critic, the first part of the book, explicit in the introduction, is about the voice of the poet and what real power he/she may have. He also is very perfunctory in saying that the reader holds no candle to the importance of the poet so any of you die-hard Barthes fans hold yourselves back, he is simply another critic with another point of view.
Now, after that digression, I will try to illicit some sort of theme from NF's synopsis of the first part of his book. As I read his introduction, and as the class seems to point towards this as an axiom, the Bible may enjoyably be read as myth and metaphor. So... Frye, in an extensively rationalized way, undoubtedly common to his mode of thought, is attempting to outline the Bible as myth and metaphor while simultaneously critiquing its influence on Western literature, and also bringing in another irresistable element of the critic in applying it to the themes and images which drive commonly s
tudied poets, artists, what have you, and why it is that these poets are so "popular". If that is completely off key, I suppose, according to the Bible, I should be punished for "raising a false report." (Exodus 23:1)
Now... The line I read from Frazer's Folklore seems to aid in Frye's quote about taking risks in writing and also seems to play into the themes he is covering in Words With Power. Tangent time! The wording of both of these quotes seems very important in that it shows the uncertainty of the reaction of the unknowable audience. Also, the theme of the flood takes us back to axis mundi, when God was still touching the earth with his power, when the disconnect between the heavens and the earth was still at bay. The words in the Bible about the flood are indeed very powerful and they show the depth of a story and, as Frazer has said, the inexhaustible recurrence of the same story in relation to different cultures. Now, in comparing those stories, Frazer and Frye are on the same page in that the mythological power of the theme of a flood holds boundless amounts of importance and in critiquing it, Frazer has fallen into Frye's paradigm of the "commonly studied images".
That is my mini-epiphany, do with it what you will...
I will start with the quote from Frye: "I am still too close to it to guess how useful this second part will be, but the success of a book that takes no risks is hardly worth achieving." Frye Intro pg. xxii
Now, contextually, Frye, in his Introduction, is speaking about the second part of Words With Power. The second part of this book, according to NF, is intended to outline why the poets subjected to extensive study are ones who use the kind of imagery he identifies in the first part of the book and also is bent towards covering the idea of axis mundi(vertical dimension of cosmos linking upper and lower worlds). In the true form of a critic, the first part of the book, explicit in the introduction, is about the voice of the poet and what real power he/she may have. He also is very perfunctory in saying that the reader holds no candle to the importance of the poet so any of you die-hard Barthes fans hold yourselves back, he is simply another critic with another point of view.
Now, after that digression, I will try to illicit some sort of theme from NF's synopsis of the first part of his book. As I read his introduction, and as the class seems to point towards this as an axiom, the Bible may enjoyably be read as myth and metaphor. So... Frye, in an extensively rationalized way, undoubtedly common to his mode of thought, is attempting to outline the Bible as myth and metaphor while simultaneously critiquing its influence on Western literature, and also bringing in another irresistable element of the critic in applying it to the themes and images which drive commonly s
tudied poets, artists, what have you, and why it is that these poets are so "popular". If that is completely off key, I suppose, according to the Bible, I should be punished for "raising a false report." (Exodus 23:1)Now... The line I read from Frazer's Folklore seems to aid in Frye's quote about taking risks in writing and also seems to play into the themes he is covering in Words With Power. Tangent time! The wording of both of these quotes seems very important in that it shows the uncertainty of the reaction of the unknowable audience. Also, the theme of the flood takes us back to axis mundi, when God was still touching the earth with his power, when the disconnect between the heavens and the earth was still at bay. The words in the Bible about the flood are indeed very powerful and they show the depth of a story and, as Frazer has said, the inexhaustible recurrence of the same story in relation to different cultures. Now, in comparing those stories, Frazer and Frye are on the same page in that the mythological power of the theme of a flood holds boundless amounts of importance and in critiquing it, Frazer has fallen into Frye's paradigm of the "commonly studied images".
That is my mini-epiphany, do with it what you will...
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