Diaries of Northrop Frye, 1942-1955

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 eighth volume in the collected works of Northrop Frye’s writings
reproduces the text of seven diaries Frye kept between 1942 and 1955.
They are filled with accounts of his undergraduate and graduate classes
(what he taught and how it was received), plans for proposed books,
records of each day’s doings, and general gossip about his academic
associates.

Like all the previous volumes in the series, it is expertly edited. A
lengthy appendix (over 50 pages) gives basic information about most of
the people mentioned in the diaries, and, as Frye moved in a
considerable number of artistic, academic, political, and religious
circles within the city, this becomes virtually a who’s who of
intellectual Toronto in the period.

Frye was intensely conscious of his image as a public figure, and
decidedly embarrassed at the tendency of many students to regard him as
God. These diaries, however, reveal the man behind the enigmatic mask.
Many readers will be surprised—perhaps even shocked—at some of the
views expressed here: his dissatisfaction with Victoria College; his
frustration with institutions as varied as the CCF, the Canadian Forum,
and the university administration; and his attitude to the United Church
of Canada, which comes decidedly close to contempt. Above all, his
comments on colleagues and students alike pull no punches. The editor
claims that he has deleted phrases thought to be “hurtful or
embarrassing,” but enough remain to cause the present reviewer to feel
relief that he arrived on campus three years after Frye abandoned
diary-writing!

As might be expected, the extent of his reading and interests is
awe-inspiring, but he comes across as a less attractive figure than
might be expected: embittered, often arrogant, and surprisingly weak in
self-discipline. Moreover, any English teacher ought to be struck by his
descriptions of his classes, where the emphasis is invariably on
intellectual patterns, never on language.

Nonetheless, for anyone who wants to understand what Frye was like
(warts and all), this is essential reading.