{"id":7848,"date":"2010-01-28T20:11:33","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T00:11:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fryeblog.blog.lib.mcmaster.ca\/?p=7848"},"modified":"2010-01-28T20:11:33","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T00:11:33","slug":"the-demonic-and-desire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Demonic and Desire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Responding to Michael Happy’s post<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I am glad you posted on demonic modulation, Michael, because I think demonic parody is integral to Frye\u2019s conception of Romance, which itself seems integral to his view of literature in relation to primary concerns.<\/p>\n

It may be useful to consider demonic modulation in terms the Anatomy<\/em>\u2019s description of demonic imagery and parody. The apocalyptic world, Frye writes, \u201cpresent, in the first place, the categories of reality in the forms of human desire, as indicated by the forms they assume under the work of human civilization.\u201d Demonic imagery embodies what desire rejects, and \u201cone of the central themes of demonic imagery is parody, the mocking of the exuberant play of art by suggesting its imitation in terms of \u2018real life.\u2019\u201d. In The Secular Scripture<\/em> he points out that, as the conventions of myth and Romance become gradually displaced into \u201crealist\u201d modes, there is also a parallel gradation of parody serving to assimilate those conventions.<\/p>\n

This might provide for an alliance between demonic modulation, which relates to the inversion of customary associations, and the Promethean Furnace in Words with Power<\/em>. \u201cThe world of titans,\u201d Frye writes, “has usually been regarded as simply evil, and the word \u2018demonic\u2019 is normally used\u2026 to mean a death-centered parody of human life.\u201d (pg. 276). However, “Prometheus is the patron of the attitude, which has sporadically appeared in literature ever since Lucretius, of ignoring the gods on the ground that even if they exist they can only be alien beings unconcerned with human life.\u201d (pg. 277). In this modulation, what would customarily be associated with the demonic is in fact an affirmation of life through desire, over a world that more closely resembles our own.<\/p>\n

That is to say that there comes a point when what is displaced in the text, because it is repressed by the ascendant moral values it flaunts, becomes in fact a life affirming principle. Prometheus becomes Christ-like, the demonic becomes apocalyptic. This may inform the simple and more humane Robin Hood motifs that run through Literature, and our experience, from Huckleberry Finn protecting Jim from the slave \u201cmasters\u201d, to what makes it obscene for certain ideologies to speak against aid for suffering countries. And it is why, for example, the homophobic (and perhaps homicidal) work of Christian evangelicals in Uganda has been so repellent a parody of the Christian exhortation to good works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Responding to Michael Happy’s post I am glad you posted on demonic modulation, Michael, because I think demonic parody is integral to Frye\u2019s conception of Romance, which itself seems integral to his view of literature in relation to primary concerns. It may be useful to consider demonic modulation in terms the Anatomy\u2019s description of demonic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"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":[4,8,125,143,170],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anatomy-of-criticism","category-archetype","category-primary-concern","category-secular-scripture","category-words-with-power"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Demonic and Desire - 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\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Demonic and Desire - The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Responding to Michael Happy’s post I am glad you posted on demonic modulation, Michael, because I think demonic parody is integral to Frye\u2019s conception of Romance, which itself seems integral to his view of literature in relation to primary concerns. It may be useful to consider demonic modulation in terms the Anatomy\u2019s description of demonic […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Educated Imagination\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-29T00:11:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"508\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Trevor Losh-Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Trevor Losh-Johnson\" \/>\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\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Trevor Losh-Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/37f8f7546d1ec1aac5ac823ee1a1f54c\"},\"headline\":\"The Demonic and Desire\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-29T00:11:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Anatomy of Criticism\",\"Archetype\",\"Primary Concern\",\"Secular Scripture\",\"Words with Power\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/\",\"name\":\"The Demonic and Desire - The Educated Imagination\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-29T00:11:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/37f8f7546d1ec1aac5ac823ee1a1f54c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Demonic and Desire\"}]},{\"@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\/37f8f7546d1ec1aac5ac823ee1a1f54c\",\"name\":\"Trevor Losh-Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1ec9e74b97f74bc80c99c17e69c1910d1a896279f3933d5f8b60ec293be76c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1ec9e74b97f74bc80c99c17e69c1910d1a896279f3933d5f8b60ec293be76c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1ec9e74b97f74bc80c99c17e69c1910d1a896279f3933d5f8b60ec293be76c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Trevor Losh-Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/gloshjohnson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Demonic and Desire - 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\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Demonic and Desire - The Educated Imagination","og_description":"Responding to Michael Happy’s post I am glad you posted on demonic modulation, Michael, because I think demonic parody is integral to Frye\u2019s conception of Romance, which itself seems integral to his view of literature in relation to primary concerns. It may be useful to consider demonic modulation in terms the Anatomy\u2019s description of demonic […]","og_url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/","og_site_name":"The Educated Imagination","article_published_time":"2010-01-29T00:11:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":375,"height":508,"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Trevor Losh-Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Trevor Losh-Johnson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/"},"author":{"name":"Trevor Losh-Johnson","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/37f8f7546d1ec1aac5ac823ee1a1f54c"},"headline":"The Demonic and Desire","datePublished":"2010-01-29T00:11:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/"},"wordCount":402,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg","articleSection":["Anatomy of Criticism","Archetype","Primary Concern","Secular Scripture","Words with Power"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/","url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/","name":"The Demonic and Desire - The Educated Imagination","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg","datePublished":"2010-01-29T00:11:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/#\/schema\/person\/37f8f7546d1ec1aac5ac823ee1a1f54c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2010\/01\/BuffyTVS_Spike-LoveIsHell.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/2010\/01\/28\/the-demonic-and-desire\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Demonic and Desire"}]},{"@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\/37f8f7546d1ec1aac5ac823ee1a1f54c","name":"Trevor Losh-Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1ec9e74b97f74bc80c99c17e69c1910d1a896279f3933d5f8b60ec293be76c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1ec9e74b97f74bc80c99c17e69c1910d1a896279f3933d5f8b60ec293be76c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b1ec9e74b97f74bc80c99c17e69c1910d1a896279f3933d5f8b60ec293be76c4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Trevor Losh-Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/author\/gloshjohnson\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7848","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\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7848\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblog.mcmaster.ca\/fryeblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}