Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose is a literary phenomenon with a mysterious cultural appeal. How did this philosophically dense, 500+ page novel about medieval monks sell fifty million copies? We would need a detective as skilled as the novel’s protagonist, William of Baskerville, to solve the mystery.
Tag Archives: Literature
Litteratura vs. Scriptura
In his essay “What is Literature?” Rene Wellek provides a historical survey of the term. The most interesting fact, from my perspective? We have to go to Tertullian and Cassian in the second century A.D. to find the term [‘litteratura‘] used for a body of writing. They contrast secular, pagan writing, litteratura, with scriptura, theContinue reading “Litteratura vs. Scriptura”
Anatomy of Criticism: Literary Modes
I’m working my way through Northrop Frye’s seminal work Anatomy of Criticism (1957). The books first essay has the title HISTORICAL CRITICISM and charts the change of literary modes over time. I’ll provide five takeaways from Frye’s scheme for tragic and comic modes then give five possible applications. TAKEAWAYS Frye begins with Aristotle’s Poetics. TheContinue reading “Anatomy of Criticism: Literary Modes”
Anatomy of Criticism: Polemical Introduction
Northrop Frye wrote Anatomy of Criticism in 1957 as a prolegomena. He wanted to write about Spenser’s Faerie Queene but felt himself having to explain position after position until he discovered he was 10,000 feet in the air taking a broader look at the systematic study of literature. The books introduction is the prolegomena toContinue reading “Anatomy of Criticism: Polemical Introduction”
Experiments in Criticism 