Frye and the Word: Religious Contexts in the Writings of Northrop Frye

W.J. Keith is a retired professor of English at the University of Toronto and author A Sense of Style: Studies in the Art of Fiction in English-Speaking Canada.

This collection of essays arises out of the “Frye and the Word”
conference held at McMaster University in 2000. Like all such
collections, it is uneven in quality. A number of distinguished Frye
scholars peer into the sometimes obscure crannies of his works and his
mind, and there are the inevitable young writers showing off their
cleverness who inevitably adhere to such occasions. All this is to be
expected.

But what makes the collection remarkable is a handful of essays that
manage to provide the unexpected. Notable among these is Robert
Alter’s “Northrop Frye Between Archetype and Typology.” The title
sounds learned—and innocent—enough, but Alter, a well-known scholar
of the literary aspects of the Bible, surprises by arguing that Frye’s
account of the Bible in the acclaimed studies of his later years is
“based on a series of more or less systematic misrepresentations of
the biblical texts.” Not only does Alter question Frye’s grasp of
some aspects of his subject, but he also complains, more generally, that
Frye is interested in the individual literary text “as a confirmation
of the general pattern” and so neglects its “surprising
peculiarities.” Alter maintains, indeed, that Frye regularly
misinterprets in the interests of his own system, often as a result of
“the bad habit of metaphorical thinking.” Alter respects Frye as one
who made “lasting contributions to the understanding of genre and
literary models,” but his reservations are important—especially when
delivered to a group dominated by Frye enthusiasts. All this is healthy.

In addition, Jean O’Grady has the courage, in “Frye and the
Church,” to explore his religious faith—or lack of it. As readers of
his notebooks are aware, this is indeed a can of worms, and O’Grady
does well to lift the lid. Similarly, J. Russell Perkin, himself a
Catholic, is not afraid to question Frye’s Protestant stance—and
possible prejudice—in “Northrop Frye and Catholicism.”

A mixed bag, then, but some breaths of fresh air are brought into the
somewhat musty atmosphere of Frye scholarship.