Welcome to Fryetown!

Hello cultural studies people and friends of Northrup Frye,

Okay, you may not consider him a friend, but nonetheless, you might be reading his book for my class, or just be curious, or confused. I'm going to use this blog to randomly catalog web-based materials to support my Cultural Studies classes, where The Anatomy of Criticism plays large.

Frye's 1954 Anatomy of Criticism dominated critical thought and college reading for a few decades before falling into the disdainful and bloody carnage of postmodern criticism, which invalidates the fundmamental basis for Frye's structure and argument. Without fixed meanings (a casualty of postmodernism) the rhythms of nature and the canon of literary tradition become an unstable basis for the Anatomy's argument. However, if we can set aside postmodernisms wonderfully useful provocations for a minute, we'll notice that Frye's work speaks to traditions that persist. In human nature, in the seasons, in the passage of time.

Frye's models are Biblical, classical, and canonical--rooted in the Greeks, Shakespeare, and ancient mythology--but his model applies equally well to modern, and even postmodern culture: texts as vast as media reports, newsreels, songs, sports, video games, television shows, reality tv, magazine covers, comics, and infomercials.

Once you understand Frye's models and breakdown for tragedy, comedy, romance, and irony/satire, you can understand cultural materials by reading their intended emotional spin. What genre are the authors calling on for meaning making? - MF