A Study Of Northrop Frye's Narrative Theory

Northrop Frye(1912-1991)is a famous Canadian literary theorist and cultural critic in the 20th century.As a learned scholar,his research fields are widespread,covering literature,religion,linguistics,sociology,philosophy and so on.Among Frye's studies in the field of literature,the discussion about narrative issues occupies a large proportion,among which his thinking on repetitive narrative structure is particularly noticeable.The purpose of this paper is to clarify the concepts and discussions which related to narrative issues in Frye's representative works,thus hoping to master Frye's narrative theory as a whole.This paper is divided into five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction,the last chapter is the conclusion,and the middle three chapters are the main part of this article.The introduction part mainly carding the research profile of Frye at home and abroad,and briefly introduces the purpose and significance of this study,the research ideas and the research methods.In the second chapter,I focus on the term "mythos" which frequently appeared in Frye's theoretical writings,in order to examine the meaning and origin of this concept To a certain degree,it can be regarded as an investigation of the origin of Frye's narrative thoughts.Chapter three focuses on Frye's theory of narrative structure,which mainly includes two aspects.One is Frye's theory of U-shaped narrative structure in The Great Code:Bible and Literature,and the other is Frye's theory of so-called "four seasons" narrative structure,which is a recurring narrative pattern in Western literature summarized in Anatomy of Criticism.On the basis of sorting out these two kinds of narrative structure theories,this paper also investigates their value and limitations respectively.Chapter four focuses on the influence of Frye's narrative theory,focusing on the analysis of Frye's influence on Todorov,Jameson and others,as well as Frye's influence on Hayden White's historical narrative analysis and M.J.T.Michel's spatial narrative analysis.Finally,the conclusion part will give a brief review of the full text.Reflecting on the achievements and shortcomings of this paper,it evaluates the value and limitation of Frye's narrative theory,furthermore,considering the reference value and significance of Frye's narrative theory in the development of literary theory and literary or cultural activities.