An Attempt at a Rhetorical Analysis of Frye

A detailed Summary of An Attempt at a Rhetorical Analysis of Frye

The renowned Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye held a series of radio broadcasts, in which he presents his beliefs of literatures place in the world. In the sixth of his lectures, Frye culminates his study of the relevance of literature in the world. He restates his theme, and expands from "strict critical theory into the wider and more practical aspects of a literal training" (133). He builds on his earlier talks and tries to not only conclude his earlier ideas, but also to introduce a greater understanding of the nature of literature and the imagination.

Frye begins by redefining his audience, or at least who he thinks they are. He tries to dissuade the notion of speaking to his audience as the literary elite. He says he is speaking to the audience as "consumers" (134). He tries to overcome the notion that the studying of literature is not a necessary part of the process of learning to read and write.

He stresses the importance of the imagination and it's appearance in our reality. He states:

The fundamental job of the imagination in ordinary life, then, is to produce, out of the society we have to live in, a vision of the society we want to live in. (140)

He provides several examples to advance his claim. The cliche re

ceives much of his attention. He emphases that not only does Communism rely heavily on the cliche to cloud the minds of it's followers, but we have our own also. He says the imagination is what allows us to realize that we can not take cliches literally, but to see beyond them. He speaks of government jargon or "gobbledegook" (sic) (142), the language used to avoid the actual conveyance of information. He uses as an example, "anti-personnel bombs," bombs that kill men, but jargon puts it into a more poetic perspective. In every example, he shows that the imagination is used to take us beyond the literal meaning of a word or phrase.

All originally had one language, the myth says. That language is not English or Russian or Chinese or any common ancestor, if there was one. It is the language of human nature, the language that makes both Shakespeare and Pushkin authentic poets, that gives a social vision to both Lincoln and Gandhi. It never speaks unless we take time to listen in leisure..." (155-6)

In his final talk, Frye takes more casual stance. Instead of standing at high on the podium with 20,000 people, he talks to a class of 30. Throughout the talks he speaks to, as he calls them, a "blind audience." It seems, however, his tone shifts for his final broadcast and takes a more, and dare I say, neighborly approach. Yet, he can afford to at this stage, as he is only restating ideas he has already presented. Here, all he has to do is make sure he makes his point and it is clear to the reader. His tone is significantly friendlier, which I attribute to several reasons.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Northrop Frye, Lincoln Gandhi, Russian Chinese, Shakespeare Pushkin, , blind audience, common voice, literal world, society live, speaking audience, earlier ideas,

Approximate Word count = 1064
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English