The Canadian Literature Research Of Northrop Frye

Northrop Frye, one of the most well-known and celebrated literary critics andtheorists in 20thcentury, is famous for its inclusive and encyclopedical literaryhorizon and the mytho-archetypical theory. This dissertation intends to study theCanadian literature research of Northrop Frye within his eminent literary views andexplore the nationalities in Canadian literature, the literary critical standard, theculture background as well as the important poets in Frye's point of views in detailsso that to work out his Canadian literature research as a whole and his position inCanadian literature history. The main body of this dissertation consists ofintroduction, four chapters and conclusion. The primary contents are as follow:IntroductionFirstly, this part introduces the formation process of Fry's view in the researchaspects of William Blake, mytho-archetypical, William Shakespeare, the Bible aswell as the Canadian literature. Canadian literature research, as the"field work"ofFrye's whole academic ideas, plays a very important role in the process of his theoryformation. However, since the overlooked reality of Canadian literature research ofFrye in modern academic field, this dissertation tends to figure out the whole ideasof Frye in Canadian literature in following four chapters.Chapter One The National Identity in Canadian LiteratureIn this chapter, the dissertation is going to discuss the national identity inCanadian literature. Firstly, Frye analyzes the influence of colonial history in Canadaand announces that the colonial history in Canada invades Canadian literature in theaspects of language, the disputes between localism and internationalism andseparatism. Secondly, according to the devotional attitude to natural theme ofCanadian literature, Frye not only concludes its expression on nature, but also pointsout both internal and external reasons and believes that the devotional attitude tonature is another nationality of Canadian literature. Finally, Frye explains the reasons of the contradicted literary tradition in Canada, such as the rising of narrative poetry,the coexistence of civilized and wild literature form and the role of communicationtheory in Canadian literature. In the end, Frye regards those features as thedistinctive characteristic of Canadian literature.Chapter Two The Construction of Critical StandardsThis chapter mainly discusses how Frye constructs the critical standards forCanadian literature. Literature tradition is the foundation of construction of literarycritical standards and Frye stresses on the influence of mytho-archetype from theancient myth to literature tradition. In the other hand, Frye also declares that theform is another source of literature. The poets can gain inspiration from his or herdaily life, but only can gain the rules and principles from form to construct the poetry.Otherwise, Frye also implants the mytho-archetypical theory into Canadian literatureand leads to emergence of the"myth poets"in Canadian literature.Chapter Three The Cultural Background of Canadian LiteratureThis chapter wants to show out the cultural background of Canadian literaturefrom the aspects of Canadian identity and the relation between Canada and UnitedKingdom and America. About Canadian identity, Frye has a distinctive idea andbelieves that the environment and garrison mentality constructed the Canadianidentity, i. e. Canadian imagination. Frye points out that Canadian imagination is thetension between locality and unity and that is the unique features of Canadian culture.In addition, Frye believes that the relation between Canada and United Kingdom andAmerica is the inevitable elements for Canadian culture and this dissertation is goingto analyze this to discover Frye's attitude toward these two countries.Chapter Four Frye on Canadian PoetsThis chapter picks up four important poets in Canadian literature to discuss,they are Edgar Pratt, Auther James Smith, and two"myth poets"named JayMacpherson and James Reaney. Frye believes that Pratt deals with the narrativepoetry constructing Canadian literary tradition and increasing their confidencegreatly. Arthur James Smith is the pioneer of Canadian modern poetry and Frye is hishonest advocate. Frye believes that Smith's literary compel and criticism is not intending to neglect its own characteristics in Canada but encourages it into themodernism in world literature. The"myth poet"is occurred by the influence ofFrye's mytho-archetypical theory. They not only the great supports to this theory butalso provide rich creative resource to Canadian poets.ConclusionThis part mainly sums up to this dissertation and points out the disadvantagesand the feature research target.