读书笔记(1)

Archetypal Literary Criticism in the Understanding ofAnglo-American LiteratureAfter reading Northrop Frye’s “The Archetypes of Literature’’, I found is it very useful and stimulating. I regard it “useful”because it provides a general pattern of myths while being “stimulating” by providing a new perspective in the understanding of Anglo-American Literature.According to Oxford Concise Dictionary of Literary Terms, archetypal literary criticismoriginated in the early 20th century from the speculations of the Britishanthropologist J. G. Frazer in The Golden Bough(1890-1915) ---acomparative study of mythologies---and from those of the Swisspsychologist C. G. Jung, who in the 1920s proposed that certain symbols indreams and myths were residues of ancestral memory preserved in thecollective unconscious. (Baldick, 16-17)We can say that Frazer and Jung are pioneers of archetypal literary criticism. However, is it the Canadian critic Northrop Frye who put forward an influential model of literature in his Anatomy of Criticism (1957) that made archetypal criticism theorized in purely literary terms.Northrop Frye, a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, is considered one of the most influential of the 20th century whose contributions to cultural and social criticism spanned a long career during which he earned widespread recognition and received many honors. The major work of Frye’s to deal with archetypes is Anatomy of Criticism, one of the most important works of literary theory published in the twentieth century in which his essay “The Archetypes of Literature”, a precursor to the book, elaborated the literary structure of the myth cycle:the five basic modes of the hero’s “power of action”(myth, romance,high/low mimetic, and irony); the five layers of symbolic meaning (literal,figurative, formal, mythical, and Biblical); the four mythoi of the archetypes(comedy, romance, tragedy, and irony) corresponding to the four phases ofnature (spring, summer, autumn, winter), which in turn reveal threeimageries (apocalyptic, demonic, and analogical which may be furtherdivided into innocence and experience). (Zhu Gang, 131)This seemingly prescriptive myth cycle shows an easier way for readers to understand literary works, especially the Greek mythology stories, though some exceptions do exist. It is well known that Greek mythology stories and The Holy Bible are called tow sources of western literature. Many literary works are derived or imitated Greek mythologies. Therefore, well-knowing the literary structure of the myth cycle makes it is easy for readers to understand those works. The usefulness of Frye’s myth cycle is very important, though, I won’t talk more but focus on another function of it. What’s more important of Frye’s myth cycle is that it provides a new perspective for readers to understand biblical archetypes in Anglo-American literature, most of which are created by the inspiration aroused by The Holy Bible---one of the main source of western literature.Maybe, before the theories of Northrop Frye came out, critics on literature have done a great job with a weary back and mind on the literary works. However, it is by no means the end of literature study. Giving a glance to Anglo-American literature, works that have biblical archetypes employed are numerable---no matter dramas, poems or novels. Examples can be taken at random: Shakespeare’ dramas, Milton’s poems, Ernest Hemingway’s and William Faulkner’s novels, etc. ---just naming some household authors’ works. Shakespeare’s four great tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth are all based on the mode “sin-judgment-salvation” which is the main theme in The Holy Bible; Milton’s famous poems Paradise Lost,Paradise Regained, and Samson Agonistes are all modeled on The Holy Bible---either on the characters or the plots. The Holy Bible also has great impact on Hemingway andFaulkner. The title of one of Hemingway’s works The Sun Also Rises came from the first chapter of Ecclesiastes; while Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom borrowed from the story between David and his rebellious son Absalom in 2 Samuel both the title and the plot. Because of so many archetypes exist in Anglo-American literary works, archetypal literary criticism shows its great importance, for in order to get a better understanding, readers may try to find the source of the archetypes. Take Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy Hamlet as an example. In this drama it is counted that there are thirty-nine places that refer to or quoted from The Holy Bible, among which twenty-eight ones are said by the protagonist Hamlet. Readers who like Shakespeare’s dramas very much but know little about The Holy Bible can not understand them very well, or even a single sentence in them. For instance, in Act IV Scene ii of Hamlet, Hamlet committed manslaughter of Polonius and hid the body, then courtiers Rosencrantz and Guildenstern came to ask for the body, Hamlet said that “compounded it with dust, whereto ’tis kin.”This sentence seems very simple, but it has its origin in Genesis “you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”---which means death. What’s more, there are many other examples. In this drama, many expressions are seemed very odd and obscure, but they have their origins in The Holy Bible. For instance, “t emple” refers to the body; “lazar-like” refers to the poor beggar Lazarus; “at supper”means summoned by God to receive bless or judgment. Ironically, in Act IV Scene iii, even Claudius didn’t know the real meaning of “at supper”, so he can not understand why did Hamlet gave such an answer when being asked “where’s Polonius?”All in all, Frye’s theories on archetypal literary criticism have arouse great attention from readers to get better understanding of literary works from a new viewpoint. What’s more, Frye’s theories also have shown the importance of reading The Holy Bible, for it has had an enormous influence on most western writers, who would employ biblical archetypes unconsciously.BibliographyHarland Richard. Literary Theory from Plato to Barthes. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2005.7.Shakespeare. William. Hamlet. Trans. Qiu Ke’an. Beijing: The Commercial Press, 1984.Zhu Gang. Twentieth Century Western Critical Theories. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2001.《圣经——中英对照（和合本·新修订标准版）》，中国基督教三自爱国运动委员会、中国基督教协会。