The Great Code: The Bible and Literature by Northrop Frye (PDF)

Description

An examination of the influence of the Bible on Western art and literature and on the Western creative imagination in general. Frye persuasively presents the Bible as a unique text distinct from all other epics and sacred writings. “No one has set forth so clearly, so subtly, or with such cogent energy as Frye the literary aspect of our biblical heritage” (New York Times Book Review). Indices.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Northrop Frye (1912-1991) was professor emeritus at Victoria College, University of Toronto, and the author of many books on literary theory and criticism.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I’m a big fan of the work of the late Northrup Frye, whom I consider to be a champion of literary criticism. Of all his books, this was designed to be his magnum opus. It’s intriguing, post-graduate level material and worthy of study for anyone serious about exploring the foundations of western culture and the belief systems woven throughout it.

⭐I now understand literature and Christianity much better. For an overall perspective, no one is better than Northrop Frye.

⭐For readers this is an incredible boring book. I loved it. It shows how the Bible does a great circle and is a fantastic place for metaphors.

⭐Note: This review takes a look at Frye’s remarkable book on the Bible as a literary work. Frye steers clear of any preaching or evangelizing in this work and everything I have read by him. I connect his scholarly approach to the overheated rhetoric of the New Atheism in a speculative, not a descriptive spirit. If you read this book, you may see where I am grounding this brief review in Frye’s analysis. If you do not, my apologies.I have always thought that the Bible should come with an instruction book. This book by Northrop Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature, is that book. Of course, I am half-jesting about the need for such a book. But, half-jesting means half-not-jesting.The vogue of the New Atheists has come and gone, but the effects of their onslaught on religious belief stretch far and wide. Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins would do well to consult Prof. Frye’s erudite exposition of the construction, conventions, and literary dimensions of the text they presume to know so well and deride so thoroughly. The unsophisticated approach taken by the New Atheists is really a ruse to throw everything into the same kettle and set it to boiling. Little else is accomplished with their faux explication.Frye shows how correctly to order the pieces that make up the whole and demonstrates the relationships between and among these component pieces.Northrop Frye was arguably the greatest literary critic of the 20th century. There are hints in this work of seeds of responses to New Historicism, reader response, and even deconstructive approaches to the Bible in the conclusion. It strikes me as funny that the intellectuals I mentioned above steer far clear of any new literary analysis approach to the Bible. Frye does not develop his sprouts of ideas, but I see hints that might prove interesting to pursue.Anyone who is interested in figuring out what the Bible is doing would certainly be better served reading Northrop Frye than listening to most preachers or Hitchens, Harris, Dawkins and Dennett.What has always fascinated me about Frye is his incredible skill in systematizing his ideas and clearly communicating the structure of his ideas. One chart or table of Frye’s is worth hundreds of pages of the continuous prose of many other critics. Immanent in this work, and peeking through or penetrating this world’s dimensions, is a radical reconfiguration of what it means to be human and why so many brilliant, thoughtful people believe in Jesus and his revolutionary teachings and ethos.This book is provocative without trying to be and fascinating without attitude. Just watching Professor Frye laying out his argument, developing the logical connections that fuse the Bible into unity is a lesson in language, reasoning and intellectual discipline. These are all in short supply. If you read it, you will be glad you did.

⭐Amazon forced me to select stupid options in my review. The Great Code isn’t a novel but rather one of the best scholarly analyses of the Bible as literature by a premier literature scholar, Northrop Frye. As one would expect, Frye is especially strong on the archetypal elements of the Bible, but I also enjoyed his discussion of intertextuality–the repeated images and motifs, the many ways in which the various writers of the books in the Old and New Testaments referred to the language of earlier texts in the canon in the later texts. If you could only read two books on the Bible as literature, read The Great Code and Robert Alter’s The Art of Biblical Narrative.

⭐Very pleased with my book.

⭐My husband loved it

⭐THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE PRINT AND PAPER QUALITY OF THE PAPERBACK EDITION ONLY. IT IS NOT A REVIEW OF THE AUTHOR’S TEXT.The size of the print and the rough edges of the font chosen made this book painful and unpleasant to read. I returned my copy after trying to read it for ten minutes. Also the paper qualifies is very low. One step removed from newsprint. I really recommend avoiding the paperback version.

⭐Like one of the other reviewers, I saw this book recommended by A N Wilson. I like reading books that analyse the content and structure of the Bible, and this fitted the bill in the second half. I found it a bit too academic in places, but it did make some very good points about how the Bible is structured.I enjoyed it, but I’m not sure I want to buy the sequel.

⭐Very happy. Thank you

⭐Very good reference book but a bit heavy going for the likes of me!

⭐Excellent

⭐good

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