{"id":4234,"date":"2009-10-20T13:52:34","date_gmt":"2009-10-20T17:52:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fryeblog.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca\/?p=4234"},"modified":"2009-10-20T13:52:34","modified_gmt":"2009-10-20T17:52:34","slug":"the-golden-age-of-frye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Golden Age of Frye”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GoldenAge1\"<\/p>\n

Russell Perkin, in a comment<\/a>\u00a0to Michael Sinding’s most recent post<\/a>, affirms that “there was never a golden age of Frye.”<\/p>\n

“The Golden Age of Frye”!\u00a0 How I wish it had been so.\u00a0 Even a\u00a0froth-flecked advocate like me doesn’t believe there was ever such a time: it is a myth (which, of course, is a good<\/em> thing in the long run).\u00a0 However, it is also true that Frye was for at least one solid and formative decade (say from the publication of Anatomy <\/em>to the publication of “Structure, Sign and Play<\/a>“)\u00a0 the most influential literary critic in the world, and he revolutionized — despite ongoing resistance — the study of literature.\u00a0 There was (okay, this is just me talkin’) no downside.\u00a0 There was, however, lots of ill will, misunderstanding and misrepresentation on the part of his critics, which only accelerated as the post-structuralist juggernaut loomed onto the scene.\u00a0 My attitude therefore is not “Frye or nobody,” but it is “Better Frye than just anybody.”\u00a0 The issue isn’t that there are no other good critics out there making genuinely valuable non-Frygian contributions to criticism, the issue is that Frye was dishonestly excluded from a discourse to which he still brings so much.\u00a0 <\/em>Having him effectively excised from the critical canon as a scholar of enduring importance, as he very arguably was, has cost literary studies much more than it could afford to lose at the best of times.\u00a0 (Imagine philosophy without Aristotle.\u00a0 Or better yet, imagine the English disowning <\/em>Shakespeare.)<\/p>\n

So here’s the ad hominem thing coming in handy once again: the reason this happened doesn’t have to be sought very far.\u00a0 Is it really a secret that, as a class (and most especially when they move in packs), academics tend to be vain, self-serving, petty and duplicitous?\u00a0 (Present company excluded, of course!!)\u00a0 There’s a reason the term “trahison des clercs<\/a>” has staying power.\u00a0 There’s a reason that David Lodge’s<\/a> campus novels remain as funny as they are.\u00a0 Lucky Jim<\/a>, <\/em>anyone?\u00a0 I’ve always liked the fact that of all the social estates, none gets the stick more soundly in Shakespeare than “pedants,” who are uniquely loathsome creatures with, apparently, no redeeming qualities at all, and who for the most part are shuffled off the stage as quickly as possible, leaving only a somewhat discomfited sense of gleeful scorn behind.<\/p>\n

So I don’t pine for a lost Golden Age: but I am looking forward to the eventuality<\/em>, for which I am willing to work very hard with absolutely no promise of reward.\u00a0 That’s what all good myths inspire us to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russell Perkin, in a comment\u00a0to Michael Sinding’s most recent post, affirms that “there was never a golden age of Frye.” “The Golden Age of Frye”!\u00a0 How I wish it had been so.\u00a0 Even a\u00a0froth-flecked advocate like me doesn’t believe there was ever such a time: it is a myth (which, of course, is a good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-literary-criticism"],"yoast_head":"\n"The Golden Age of Frye" - The Educated Imagination<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""The Golden Age of Frye" - The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Russell Perkin, in a comment\u00a0to Michael Sinding’s most recent post, affirms that “there was never a golden age of Frye.” “The Golden Age of Frye”!\u00a0 How I wish it had been so.\u00a0 Even a\u00a0froth-flecked advocate like me doesn’t believe there was ever such a time: it is a myth (which, of course, is a good […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-10-20T17:52:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"351\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael Happy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael Happy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael Happy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\"},\"headline\":\"“The Golden Age of Frye”\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-20T17:52:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"commentCount\":5,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Literary Criticism\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"The Golden Age of Frye\\\" - The Educated Imagination\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-10-20T17:52:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg\",\"width\":450,\"height\":351},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“The Golden Age of Frye”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\",\"name\":\"The Educated Imagination\",\"description\":\"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95\",\"name\":\"Michael Happy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Michael Happy\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/michaelhappy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"The Golden Age of Frye\" - The Educated Imagination","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"The Golden Age of Frye\" - The Educated Imagination","og_description":"Russell Perkin, in a comment\u00a0to Michael Sinding’s most recent post, affirms that “there was never a golden age of Frye.” “The Golden Age of Frye”!\u00a0 How I wish it had been so.\u00a0 Even a\u00a0froth-flecked advocate like me doesn’t believe there was ever such a time: it is a myth (which, of course, is a good […]","og_url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/","og_site_name":"The Educated Imagination","article_published_time":"2009-10-20T17:52:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":450,"height":351,"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Michael Happy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael Happy","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael Happy","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95"},"headline":"“The Golden Age of Frye”","datePublished":"2009-10-20T17:52:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/"},"wordCount":446,"commentCount":5,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg","articleSection":["Literary Criticism"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/","name":"\"The Golden Age of Frye\" - The Educated Imagination","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg","datePublished":"2009-10-20T17:52:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2009\/10\/GoldenAge1.jpg","width":450,"height":351},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2009\/10\/20\/the-golden-age-of-frye\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“The Golden Age of Frye”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/","name":"The Educated Imagination","description":"A Website Dedicated to Northrop Frye","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/666be62a4e8014df67296baeeaf4db95","name":"Michael Happy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fe523aceeb39b65793575d0523e67cb779a13050efa89e2284a05c0d0a141aa9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Michael Happy"},"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/michaelhappy\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}