Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays

Abstract

Striking out at conception of criticism as restricted mere opinion or ritual gesture, Northrop Frye wrote this magisterial work proceeding on assumption that criticism is a structure of thought and knowledge in its own right. In four brilliant essays on historical, ethical, archetypical, and rhetorical criticism, employing examples of world literature from ancient times present, Frye reconceived literary criticism as a total history rather than a linear progression through time. Literature, Frye wrote, is the place where our imaginations find ideal that they try pass on belief and action, where they find vision which is source of both dignity and joy of life. And critical study of literature provides a basic way to produce, out of society we have live in, a vision of society we want live in. Harold Bloom contributes a fascinating and highly personal preface that examines Frye's mode of criticism and thought (as opposed Frye's criticism itself) as being indispensable in modern literary world.