The great code : the Bible and literature PDF
Preview The great code : the Bible and literature
$14.95 uWhy does this huge, sprawling, tactless book sit there inscrutably in the middle of our cultural heri tage, frustrating all our efforts to walk around it?'' This book is the Bible.T he source. • The single most important influ ence in the imaginative tradition of Western literature. With schol arship of the most vibrant order and broad intellectual range, Northrop Frye meets this work on its own terms, rejecting both dog matic and literal interpretations. He celebrates its uniqueness, showing how it differs from all other epics and all other sacred texts. The Bible, in Frye's highly orig inal analysis, redeems history with a visionary, poetic perspective, whi'ch complements science in the understanding of man's nature. It is encyclopedic in character, stretching from creation to the end of the world. It is violently parti san, abstract rather than objective or representational, a multi-di mensional theme and variations rather than a linear exposition. Frye's reading of the Bible is expansive, open to the resonances of contextual meaning. Drawing on his famous theory of mythol ogy, he reveals the Bible's unified (Continued on back flap) (Continued from front flap) structure of narrative and recur rent imagery: the old is trans formed and given new meaning. He emphasizes the rich interac tion between Biblical and secular knowledge. He extols the imagina tive energy flowing from the Bible to creative minds for centuries. That is the Bible's great legacy. The Great Code is itself an ex traordinary work of imaginative energy. NoRTHROP FRYE is University Pro fessor in the University of To ronto, where he has been on the faculty since 1939. Dr. Frye has taught full terms at Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Berkeley, Cornell, and Oxford, has lectured extensively around the world, and holds thirty honorary degrees. He is the author of Anatomy of Criti cism, as well as numerous other books and shorter works of literary theory and criticism. Jacket design by Paul Gamarello Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers 757 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017 THE ···.1 ~"" I ~•~."' •..) ··"~vLJRT BRACE JOVANOVIC'H THE GREAT CODE The Bible and Literature Northrop Frye • THE GREAT CODE The Bible and Literature HARCOURT BRACE JOVANOVICH, PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON Copyright© 1982, 1981 by Northrop Frye All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission co make copies of any part of the work should be mailed co: Permissions, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 757 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Frye, Northrop. The great code. Includes index. 1. Bible and literature. I. Tide. PN56.B5F7 809'.93522 81-47303 ISBN 0-15-136902-X AACR2 Printed in the United States of America BCDE Contents Introduction xi PART ONE THE ORDER OF WORDS CHAPTER ONE LANGUAGE I 3 CHAPTER TWO MYTH I 31 CHAPTER THREE METAPHOR I 53 CHAPTER FOUR TYPOLOGY I 78 PART TWO THE ORDER OF TYPES CHAPTER FIVE TYPOLOGY II Phases of Revelation 105 viii Contents CHAPTER SIX METAPHOR II Imagery 139 CHAPTER SEVEN MYTH II Narrative 169 CHAPTER EIGHT LANGUAGE II Rhetoric 199 Notes 235 Index 245 Index of Passages 257
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