{"id":16789,"date":"2010-09-19T14:26:52","date_gmt":"2010-09-19T18:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fryeblog.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca\/"},"modified":"2010-09-19T14:26:52","modified_gmt":"2010-09-19T18:26:52","slug":"frye-welch-correspondence","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/frye-welch-correspondence\/","title":{"rendered":"Frye-Welch Correspondence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Compiled by Bob Denham<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Frye\u2019s Letters to His Secretary, 1968\u201370<\/p>\n

The following letters were written by Frye to Jane Welch (later Widdicombe) at the beginning of her long tenure as his devoted secretary: she began working for Frye in 1968. Frye\u2019s travels during these three years took him to Ireland and London; Berkeley; Bellagio, Italy; Islamabad, Pakistan; and Merton College, Oxford.\u00a0 During this time he was working on <\/em>The Critical Path, which, he tells Jane Welch in one of his letters from Merton College, \u201cis the first book since the Anatomy of Criticism that I\u2019ve actually written, i.e., that hasn\u2019t been a series of public lectures.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a very important book.\u00a0 I probably won\u2019t live to see it recognized as such, but you may\u201d (no. 16). \u00a0Then there are the usual Frye quips, such as \u201cI\u2019m not all that anxious to read the Blake Newsletter, and I never believe anything I see in such things anyway, as a matter of principle\u201d (no. 11), and \u201cA big research library is wasted on me, too bad I never learned to read, and I\u2019m getting itchy feet again\u201d (no. 17). <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rubens Hotel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sept. 1\/68<\/p>\n

Buckingham Palace Road<\/p>\n

London<\/p>\n

Frye was in London after having presented a paper on Yeats at a conference in Sligo in 12 August<\/em>.\u00a0 Holograph letter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Jane:<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still at the Rubens until the 5th: they\u2019ve filled up for the weekend, so we may have to move.\u00a0 If not, we\u2019ll stay here and hold our room for the Stratford visit.\u00a0 It\u2019s not too bad a hotel, and the room we finally got is quiet: the worst feature is the housekeeping and the dishwashing in the dining room.<\/p>\n

Quiet weekend: I never ran into a September<\/em> Bank holiday before, that I remember.\u00a0 I got hold of Tomarken and fed him lunch and gave him back his thesis: also I wrote his boss.[1]<\/a> Nothing else seems too urgent.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care what Queen\u2019s does, and the Quail Roost people should have answered my letter back in June.[2]<\/a> If there\u2019s no letter from Max Black, you can send my Indiana paper on to Stallknecht.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Everything fine so far: the two papers seem to have been successful enough.[4]<\/a> We\u2019re enjoying London, seeing how the City has been all built up and how things are much the same in most places.\u00a0 We tramped all over Kew Gardens today.<\/p>\n

Love from us both,<\/p>\n

Northrop Frye<\/em><\/p>\n

2<\/strong><\/p>\n

University of California, Berkeley\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 April 7 [1969]<\/p>\n

Frye was spending the spring term at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught an undergraduate course in literary symbolism and delivered the Beckman Lectures, entitled \u201cThe Critical Path\u201d (\u201cThe Search for the Path,\u201d 23 April, and \u201cFollowing the Path,\u201d 30 April)<\/em>.\u00a0 Holograph letter.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Jane:<\/p>\n

As you see, my typewriter hasn\u2019t come yet.\u00a0 I start teaching tomorrow\u2013\u2013my lecture hours are 10\u201312 Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I didn\u2019t start last Thursday because of Eisenhower\u2019s funeral.\u00a0 We move to 2634 Le Conte Ave., Berkeley 94709, c\/o Professor Anne Middleton, but I think you\u2019d better address me here, c\/o Department of English, Wheeler Hall.<\/p>\n

I think the texts you\u2019re typing[5]<\/a> should be sent air mail, and perhaps special delivery, so I\u2019ll have something to start on.\u00a0 My office phone number is (415) 642\u20132033: the Middleton number will probably be changed.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve had three days of rain, but got into S.F. [San Francisco] for one day.\u00a0 The auditorium in the English building was burned out by rioting students last term.\u00a0 Everybody hopes for quieter times.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sending the paper bill and two receipts for income tax.\u00a0 The State of California takes a bit out of me, so I\u2019ll have to keep receipts like this hotel bill.<\/p>\n

Blessings: will write again when my typewriter arrives.<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

3<\/strong><\/p>\n

University of California, Berkeley\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0April 9\/69<\/p>\n

Jane, dear, thanks so much for all your good work: the exams (ugh) have arrived, and I\u2019ll send along the marks as soon as possible.\u00a0 Perhaps you\u2019d better ask Connie Blewett in the Registrar\u2019s Office at Victoria for the list (I don\u2019t think I have it: I have another list), and then send it along to me because I have to sign it.<\/p>\n

As you see, my typewriter has come: it makes a hell of a noise, but otherwise it\u2019s fine, and the same kind I\u2019m used to.\u00a0 Jill Gilliland\u2019s paper went to Jay [Macpherson], and Jay will return it when she<\/em> returns, which should be by the time you get this.\u00a0 I don\u2019t suppose Jay will give it a mark, so it\u2019ll have to come along to me too.\u00a0 By all means send Virginia Brass two more copies of the Queen\u2019s address:[6]<\/a> she\u2019s earned them with all those sweet words.\u00a0 And of course I\u2019d be glad to write for Peter Allen. \u00a0I think the cheques might best be held until I come back.\u00a0 That, so far as I can see now, will be around the beginning of May.\u00a0 I lecture May 1; I imagine I\u2019ll be leaving, for Toronto on May 2, and will stay in Toronto as long as I can.\u00a0 Could you get an Air Canada return ticket to Halifax for me, for some time in the late afternoon of May 5, and returning late on May 6 if possible? \u00a0President Beveridge of Acadia, whose letter you sent on, says Convocation is at 10 on the morning of May 6, so these times ought to be possible.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ll have much time to stop in Toronto on the way back, but I\u2019ll need a Toronto-San Francisco ticket (economy this time, I think), leaving probably on May 7 and with an open return (I\u2019ll use the return part coming back to the York-Western-Victoria junket).[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Re the stencils: as I said, Spenser, Milton and Dante should come first\u2014and would you add one Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book I, Canto i? \u00a0After that, the Shakespeare, Donne, Vaughan and Marvell; after that, the Blake and the other Romantics; then the Moderns, omitting T.S. Eliot and W.B. Yeats.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to ask them to bring copies of those two.<\/p>\n

I suppose California\u2019s all right, but, oh God, I\u2019d rather live in Canada.\u00a0 My students look as though they\u2019d all slept in ash cans (maybe they have), and a lot of them seem to want to make political speeches.\u00a0 I started out with about 350, but will doubtless lose about half that number\u2013\u2013they do a lot of shopping around during the first week.<\/p>\n

Blessings, again,<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

4<\/strong><\/p>\n

University of California, Berkeley\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 14\u20134\u201369<\/p>\n

Jane, you are a dear sweet girl, and it was an immense relief to come in this morning and find all those Renaissance texts in my postbox.\u00a0 I know it was a lot of work for you, but it will certainly make a big difference at this end.<\/p>\n

I hope you got my first letter along with the envelope containing the receipts and the Globe and Mail bill. \u00a0What I am sending back in this is:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Signatures to two copyright releases, Hudson Review and ERIC, to be forwarded to them.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Letter from the Office of Education in Washington.\u00a0 Would you write Engel and say I\u2019m in California until June, but would be pleased to act as field reader or consultant.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Letter from Virginia Lee.\u00a0 Would you (a) send the letter on with a covering note to whoever the Chairman of Fine Art at Toronto is (it used to be Stephen Vickers, but I think it\u2019s changed now), saying that if he knows of any assistance she could get I be obliged if he would write her, and that if it\u2019s possible for her to come I\u2019d be willing to serve on her thesis committee if they wanted me.\u00a0 And (b) write to Miss Lee saying I\u2019m away, etc., but that you are forwarding her letter to the Fine Art Department here, and she should be hearing from them, as they are more closely in touch with the available sources of assistance than I can be away out here.\u00a0 A copy of the letter to her goes to the Fine Art Department.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Letters from Rensselaer Polytech and the College Center, accepting tentatively the latter\u2019s invitation.\u00a0 And could you work out the time tables?<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Fred Sandercott has confused me with Professor F.E.J. Fry of the Department of Biology, University of Toronto.\u00a0 Would you send his letter on to that<\/em> Fry, and write to Sandercott saying you\u2019ve done so?<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 Essays marked \u201cthis student wishes to graduate in the spring\u201d that have arrived so far are from:<\/p>\n

Isabelle Robinson<\/p>\n

Elsie Chin<\/p>\n

Phyllis Angel<\/p>\n

Brian McDermott<\/p>\n

M. Ritts<\/p>\n

Malcolm de Vis Delph<\/p>\n

Manmohan Bakshi<\/p>\n

and, not so marked: Louis A. Montrose.<\/p>\n

Angels guard your bed.<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

5<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holograph postcard from <\/em>Bellagio<\/em>, <\/em>Italy<\/em>, where Frye was attending a conference, 31August\u201310 September, sponsored by the journal <\/em>D\u00e6dalus.\u00a0 Undated but written on <\/em>1 September 1969<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

Got our hotel all right: an immense room looking across the lake[8]<\/a> to the mountains.\u00a0 Nice little town, all two streets of it.\u00a0 Have had one day of conference: the afternoon was devoted to my paper,[9]<\/a> which seemed to be very well received.\u00a0 Helen was invited to dinner at the Vista[10]<\/a> last night and is to be shown around the place today.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been to other places around the lake, including this Vista Carlotta.[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

All the best.<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

6<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holograph postcard, dated Sept. 12 from Islamabad, Pakistan, where the Fryes had flown following the conference in Bellagio, Italy, to attend still another conference\u2013\u2013the<\/em> eleventh triennial congress of the F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale des Langues et Litt\u00e9ratures Modernes, 10\u201328 September 1969.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Jane: Arrived safely after a very smooth trip.\u00a0 The Bellagio experience was really wonderful, and I was sorry to leave even though it was $50 a day.\u00a0 This place is a big new synthetic capital, with buildings miles apart, mostly hotels and embassies.\u00a0 Rawalpindi is the airport and the next town, and looks very picturesque: we\u2019re going to shop today.\u00a0 The plane stopped in Cairo, which is why I had to get a yellow fever shot.\u00a0 Love.<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

7 <\/strong>[September 1969]<\/p>\n

Undated holograph postcard from <\/em>Islamabad<\/em>, <\/em>Pakistan<\/em>, <\/em><\/p>\n

Have had a wonderful week seeing Pakistan: archaeological sites, scenery, villages, schools, bazaars, and generally the works.\u00a0 I think my paper[12]<\/a> was a reasonable success, but it was a very hard job: so many divergent interests in the audience.\u00a0 Now I can relax a bit, although I go on television Thursday.[13]<\/a> Love from us both.<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

8<\/strong><\/p>\n

28\u20133\u201370<\/p>\n

Holograph letter from the time of Frye\u2019s 1970 visit to Merton College, Oxford, where he taught a seminar on twentieth\u2011century poetic imagery and lectured on Blake\u2013\u2013March\u2013July.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Jane:\u00a0 Thanks so much for all your good work so far.\u00a0 We had a quiet trip and a pleasant stay in London, and are settled in at 192 Headington, a small flat but we\u2019ll squeeze in.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 I suggest a donation of $50, $25 from each of us, for the Moore Fund.\u00a0 We were both graduated in 1933 and Helen\u2019s maiden name was Kemp.[14]<\/a><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 The Bate permission is O.K. and so is any other that is approved by the publisher.[15]<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Lorenzini has not expressed any interest in the Romanticism book, so it\u2019s O.K. for the Texas girl to go ahead if Random House approves.\u00a0 The first chapter has already appeared in Italian in Strumenti Critici<\/em> (copies in Massey office).[16]<\/a><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 What you did was all right.<\/p>\n

Professor Barker Fairley is having an exhibition of his pictures at the St. Lawrence centre, and wants to of ours, the portraits of Pratt and of Blodwen Davies.\u00a0 This is just to let you know.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything you need do about it, as we\u2019re writing the Haddows next door.<\/p>\n

Blessings<\/p>\n

Northrop Frye<\/p>\n

9<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Merton College]<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

Undated holograph letter, the first part of which is missing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

. . . I think I will ask you after all to look after Barker Fairley\u2019s pictures.\u00a0 The Haddows, our next door neighbors, who normally live at 125 Clifton Road, have their house rented and are living in our house at 127 until April 15.\u00a0 Barker Fairley wants to borrow two portraits he did that we own, for exhibition.\u00a0 He lives at 90 Willcocks St., and has probably already got in touch with you.\u00a0 The pictures he wants are a portrait of E.J. Pratt and one of Blodwen Davies.\u00a0 The Pratt is on the dining room wall, west side; the Davies is in the attic storeroom.\u00a0 (Don\u2019t tell Barker that.)\u00a0 It\u2019s a very blue picture of an old lady with white hair.[17]<\/a><\/p>\n

Blessings and thanks.<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

[Helen Frye\u2019s addition]<\/p>\n

Easter Sunday<\/p>\n

Dear Jane:\u00a0\u00a0 Barker did not say how long he wants these for, but possibly you could have them returned to Massey College when the show is over so that you could keep track of arrangements yourself.\u00a0 Valuations for insurance are on the back I think.\u00a0 Otherwise I forget what they were valued at.<\/p>\n

H.F.<\/p>\n

10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Monday, April 27 [1970].<\/p>\n

[Merton College]<\/p>\n

Dear Jane:<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve finally acquired a hired typewriter, and it\u2019s horrible, like wading through mud.\u00a0 I\u2019m sending back the copies of the contract with this: you might fill out the top part.\u00a0 Also strike out Clause 10: I\u2019m explaining why in my letter to Perry.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

I think with all North American correspondence I\u2019ll send you drafts of letters; then you can copy the letter, sign it for me, and file the carbon.\u00a0 I think that\u2019s the best way to keep our files straight.\u00a0 It would silly to send letters from U.K. across the ocean twice, so I\u2019ll look after them.<\/p>\n

Seminars begin Wednesday and lectures Thursday.<\/p>\n

Blessings.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll send the marks of the graduate essay by Friday.<\/p>\n

11<\/strong><\/p>\n

Merton College,<\/p>\n

29-4-70<\/p>\n

Jane, sweetie, PLEASE don\u2019t send me ANY more papers: having those come dribbling in when I\u2019m trying to get my courses here in shape has me climbing the wall.\u00a0 Hold on to everything else and turn them over to Jay [Macpherson] for a preliminary reading as soon as her undergraduate marking slackens off a bit.\u00a0 Tomorrow I\u2019ll send you the marks I have: students should be told that the marks are in but that I have still to reread them and send them back with comments, and am not sure when that can be.\u00a0 If there should be one missing, I have a horrid notion that it got thrown out with all the CRTC stuff in my hotel room.\u00a0 Give it 74 and keep very quiet about it.<\/p>\n

Could you send me Mr. Hubbard\u2019s initials and address?[19]<\/a> I should write him.\u00a0 Permission for Mrs. Pierce is all right: The Forum doesn\u2019t pay and has no rights.\u00a0 You can send on Janet Warner\u2019s paper any time: I\u2019m not all that anxious to read the Blake Newsletter, and I never believe anything I see in such things anyway, as a matter of principle.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll send my ticket along tomorrow: I seem to have left it home.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

12<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Merton College] <\/strong>[30 April 1970]<\/p>\n

Jane, dear, here are the marks.\u00a0 Tell the secretary that I\u2019d prefer the letter marks if legal, but if not the Arabic ones will do, except that they\u2019re on the old system of marking, where 75 is the A.\u00a0 I think there\u2019s a new system in which the A is 80: if he won\u2019t take them like this, send the list back and I\u2019ll try to alter it.\u00a0 (Or rather, let me know: I have a copy.)<\/p>\n

My first seminar was yesterday (April 29), and about 25 turned up.\u00a0 First lecture today.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been asked by the BBC to do a talk on communications, and may accept.[20]<\/a> Also a wire from York asking t\u00ab for a keynote speech on February 17 at some damn educational powwow: not anxious, but I suppose the date\u2019s clear. It would be.[21]<\/a><\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

13<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Merton College]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3-5-70<\/p>\n

Jane, dear, would you send me the carbon of The Critical Path<\/em>, so I can work on it here? \u00a0A good deal of what \u2018\u2018m trying to write seems to be turning out to be it, so I\u2019d better have it and keep things clear. \u00a0In this country you can send things \u201cair parcel\u201d cheaper than first class, with a customs declaration attached: maybe you can the other way too.<\/p>\n

Blessings.<\/p>\n

NF<\/p>\n

14<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Merton College] <\/strong>8\u20135\u201370<\/p>\n

Jane, dear, I\u2019ll write you a proper letter when I hear from you; but could you send me the Blake slides?[22]<\/a> They\u2019re in the drawer on the left-hand side of my desk, lowest drawer, at Victoria. \u00a0Plastic red and yellow cases. \u00a0There\u2019s also a blond wood box at the end of the window ledge designed to hold them, but I don\u2019t know if there\u2019s any point transferring them. Blessings,<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

15<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Merton College]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[1970]<\/p>\n

Jane, my pet, I think that brings us all up to date for the moment.\u00a0 My opening seminar and lecture seemed to go all right.\u00a0 Today there\u2019s something bright up in the sky that I\u2019d say was the sun if I weren\u2019t in Oxford.\u00a0 Otherwise the place seems to have nothing but rain on its mind.\u00a0 The news about the income tax was a bit hard to take: much harder to take than my money seems to be for the government.\u00a0 I hope Trudeau will spend it on something better looking than Barbra Streisand.[23]<\/a><\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

16<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Merton College]\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[1970]<\/p>\n

Letter regarding the manuscript of <\/em>The Critical Path.<\/p>\n

Dear Jane:<\/p>\n

As I half expected, my slight rearrangement of material has amounted to a complete rewriting of the book.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the manuscript as far as halfway through section six: the end of six and the few pages of seven are to come.\u00a0 I think you can follow it all right: you know my sign \u00b6 which means start a new paragraph.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite a nuisance, but this is the first book since the Anatomy of Criticism that I\u2019ve actually written, i.e., that hasn\u2019t been a series of public lectures.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a very important book.\u00a0 I probably won\u2019t live to see it recognized as such, but you may.<\/p>\n

Blessings.<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

17<\/strong><\/p>\n

Merton College,<\/p>\n

2-6-70<\/p>\n

Dear Jane: if you get this before you leave, send Henry Langford a cheque for \u00a350\u2014hell, I mean dollars: this is a British typewriter and it\u2019s got the wrong sign on it\u2014and send in a mark of 70 for Paul Wilson.\u00a0 One thing I’d like to know is when you expect to be back in Toronto, on account I\u2019d like to be back on your heels as soon as possible. \u00a0A big research library is wasted on me, too bad I never learned to read, and I\u2019m getting itchy feet again. \u00a0So\u2019s Helen: she\u2019s only reconciled to staying here because the chestnuts are still in bloom.<\/p>\n

All the best,<\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

18<\/strong><\/p>\n

[Merton College]<\/p>\n

Letter regarding the sermon Frye delivered<\/em> in the <\/em>Merton<\/em> <\/em>College<\/em> Chapel, <\/em>7 June 1970<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0 The sermon, \u201cAll Things Made Anew,\u201d was first published in <\/em>Reading the World, 254\u20136.<\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

Jane, sweetie, this here is me sermon.\u00a0 They wanna distribute it, natch. \u00a0Could you stencil it, and send the stencils back to me? \u00a0I have an idea that single space is better than double.\u00a0 But there are several parallel passages, so proof-read it carefully to make sure there isn\u2019t a line left out.<\/p>\n

Love (surprise),<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

N.F.<\/p>\n

Notes<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Frye took his student Edward Tomarken to lunch at the Rubens Hotel where he told him that his thesis\u2013\u2013Critical Perspectives: A Study of \u201cRasselas\u201d and Other Works of Samuel Johnson<\/em>\u2013\u2013was acceptable.\u00a0 Tomarken received his Ph.D. the following year.\u00a0 His \u201cboss\u201d was Edmund Volpe, chair of the English department at City University of New York.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> The references here are to papers that Frye was scheduled to present: \u201cThe Ethics of Change\u201d at Queen\u2019s University, Kingston, Ontario, in November 1968, and \u201cThe Relevance of Higher Education\u201d at the Quail Roost Seminar, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, in December 1968.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> The paper was \u201cMythos and Logos,\u201d which Frye had given at Indiana University in June 1968.\u00a0 Max Black was professor of philosophy at Cornell University.\u00a0 The reference to Black is uncertain but it may relate to the disposition of a paper, \u201cThe Social Context of Literary Criticism,\u201d that Frye had given at Cornell University on 18 April 1968, portions of which were eventually expanded into several sections of The Critical Path<\/em>. <\/em>Newton P. Stallknecht was chair of the philosophy department at Indiana University, director of the School of Letters there, and professor of comparative literature.\u00a0 The paper was published in The <\/em>School<\/em> of <\/em>Letters<\/em>, <\/em>Indiana<\/em> <\/em>University<\/em>: Twentieth Anniversary, 1968<\/em> (Bloomington, IN: N.p., 1968), 27\u201340, and reprinted in Yearbook of Comparative Literature<\/em> 18 (1969): 5\u201318.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> The first paper, which Frye read on 12 August at the Sligo, Ireland, conference on Yeats, was \u201cThe Top of the Tower: A Study of the Imagery of Yeats.\u201d\u00a0 The second paper is uncertain.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Jane Welch was typing one of the several versions of The Critical Path<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> \u201cThe Ethics of Change: The Role of the University.\u201d\u00a0 A Symposium: The Ethics of Change <\/em>(Toronto: Canadian Broadcasting Corp., 1969), 44\u201355.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> All of these trips were in connection with Frye\u2019s receiving honorary degrees\u2013\u2013from Acadia University (D.Litt.), 9 May; University of Western Ontario (D.Litt.), 27 May; York University (D.Litt.), 30 May; and University of Victoria, B.C. (LL.D.), 31 May.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Lake Como.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Frye\u2019s paper was one of the several versions of \u201cThe Critical Path,\u201d the revised form of which was published in D\u00e6dalus <\/em>99 (Spring 1970): 268\u2013342.<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> La Vista is the main piazza in Bellagio.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> The photo on the postcard was of the Villa Carlotta in Tremezzo, one of the many villas along the shore of Lake Como.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> \u201cTradition and Change in the Theory of Criticism.\u201d\u00a0 The paper was published thirty\u2011three years later in Northrop Frye on Literature and Society, 1936\u20131984<\/em><\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> On 1 December 1969 Frye wrote to Carolyn Kizer, who had been at the Pakistan conference, \u201cThe Pakistan visit was a particularly rewarding one for a Canadian, I should think, because it gave me some perspective of what a country gets out of separatism and a cornball ideology, which seems to be damn little.\u201d<\/p>\n

[14]<\/a> Victoria College had established a scholarship fund in honor of A.B.B. Moore, who had been president of Victoria since 1950.<\/p>\n

[15]<\/a> This almost certainly was in reference to Walter Jackson Bate\u2019s request to reprint selections from Frye\u2019s work in his Criticism: The Major Texts<\/em>, enlarged ed. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970).<\/p>\n

[16]<\/a> Amleto Lorenzini had assisted Carla Plevano Pezzini and Francesca Valente with the Italian translation of Fearful Symmetry<\/em>, and he had helped with the Italian translation of Anatomy of Criticism<\/em>.\u00a0 He would later translate, or assist in translating, four of Frye\u2019s other books.\u00a0 Someone from Texas apparently had inquired about translating A Study of English Romanticism<\/em>, a book that so far has not appeared in Italian.<\/p>\n

[17]<\/a> The portraits of Davies and Pratt are included in Barker Fairley: Portraits<\/em>, ed. Gary Michael Dault (New York: Metheun, 1981), 52, 65.<\/p>\n

[18]<\/a> The contract is no doubt with Indiana University Press for The Critical Path<\/em>.\u00a0 Bernard B. Perry was director of the press.<\/p>\n

[19]<\/a> This may be R.H. Hubbard, who edited the book containing Frye\u2019s \u201cCanadian Scene: Explorers and Observers.\u201d\u00a0 See Canadian Landscape Painting 1670\u20131930<\/em> (Madison: University of Wisconsin, Elvehjem Art Center, 1973), 1\u20134.<\/p>\n

[20]<\/a> Frye did give the talk, which aired on BBC on 20 June 1970.\u00a0 It was published as \u201cCommunications\u201d in the Listener<\/em> 84 (9 July 1970): 33\u20135.\u00a0 Portions of the talk appeared in a somewhat different version in The Critical Path<\/em>.<\/p>\n

[21]<\/a> Frye did give the keynote address at York University, Downsview, Ontario, on \u201cEducation and the Rejection of Reality,\u201d 18 February 1971.<\/p>\n

[22]<\/a> Frye wanted the slides for the lectures on Blake he was giving at Merton College.<\/p>\n

[23]<\/a> Prime Minister Trudeau had been dating Barbara Streisand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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