I’ve just started what promises to be a very interesting, and difficult, book.← The Great Code: The Bible & Literature, by Northrop Frye.
It’s an examination of the influence of the Bible on Western art and literature and on the Western creative imagination in general.
In the Introduction, he tells us:
My interest in the subject began in my earliest days as a junior instructor, when I found myself teaching Milton and writing about Blake, two authors who were exceptionally Biblical even by the standards of English literature. I soon realized that a student of English literature who does not know the Bible does not understand a good deal of what is going on in what he reads: the most conscientious student will be continually misconstruing the implications, even the meanings. So I offered a course in the English Bible as a guide to the study of English literature, and as the most efficient way of learning about it myself.
Have a great Tuesday!
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sounds very interesting. I wonder if one would have to study the great religions of other cultures in order to understand their literature well?
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that, Cippy. My mom studied that book in one of her university classes, and she said it was bloody tough reading.
ReplyDeleteBetter eat lots of burgers while you're reading it!
Patricia, your mom is right. It is a difficult read.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a stretch for an amateur like me!
I am trusting that being fortified with plenty of hangyburrs will see me through.
Never underestimate the power of..... cows!
Yes Jeane, I think that in order to correctly study our own culture or religion, we need to study the religion and culture of others.
I could not agree more, funnily enough I have tried to read the bible an several occasions, and not been successful, until now. I must admit as a sort of mediocre christain wavering between atheism that the curiosity alone has been pretty large. Now I have small children and we are reading a children's version as it is just ne of those books that should be read (if nothing else), and I am relieved to finally "get" what all the fuss is about, and KNOW all those countless bible stories after.
ReplyDelete*Ooohhh so THAT is what happened*
I have this strange feeling now of being sort of included somehow...and as an avid reader it definately does put some puzzle pieces into place. Just read Anna Karenina, loved it too!
Have you read Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund (CAN 't wait to get my hands on some more of her books; could NOT put it down...)? Super read, but maybe a chick book....