David had the honour of interviewing one of his favourite podcasters, Angelina Stanford from “The Literary Life Podcast”, about Lewis’ literary theory and one of his students, Northrop Frye.
S7E13: “Lewisian Literary Theory & Northrop Frye” (Download)
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Show Notes
Introduction
Quote-of-the-week
It is astonishing how little attention critics have paid to Story considered in itself. .. There are indeed three notable exceptions. Aristotle in the Poetics constructed a theory of Greek tragedy which puts Story in the centre and relegates character to a strictly subordinate place. In the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, Boccaccio and others developed an allegorical theory of Story to explain the ancient myths. And in our own time Jung and his followers have produced their doctrine of Archetypes. Apart from these three attempts the subject has been left almost untouched…
C. S. Lewis
Biographical Information
Angelina Stanford has a Master’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Louisiana. For 30 years, she has shared her passion and enthusiasm for literature with students in a variety of settings—everywhere from university classrooms to homeschool co-ops to homeschooling her own three children.
In 2020 she and her husband, Thomas Banks, founded the House of Humane Letters, providing classes, conferences and other resources devoted to recovering the lost Intellectual Tradition of the Humane Letters, and together with Cindy Rollins they host The Literary Life Podcast.
Chit-Chat
…
Toast
- David: Tea
- Angelina: Earl Grey Tea
Discussion
01. “Background”
Q. So I provided a very brief sketch at the top of the show, but would you mind filling in a few more details about yourself, your career, and history with books?
02. “House of Humane Letters”
Q. I mentioned earlier the House of Humane Letters – what do you and Mr. Banks do there?
03. “Lewisian Influence”
Q. Given the amount of time that Lewis is quoted and his books examined in detail, I have long considered The Literary Life Podcast an honorary C. S. Lewis podcast! Would you mind saying a few words about Lewis’ influence on your own life and his various appearances on your podcast?
- The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
- The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
- Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
- An Experiment in Criticism by C.S. Lewis
- J.R.R. Tolkien
04. “The Oxford Project”
Q. What was C. S. Lewis doing in Oxford?
- Jacob Grimm
- The Monster and the Critics and Other Essays by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Discarded Image by C.S. Lewis
- Beowulf poem
- Our English Syllabus by C.S. Lewis
- Sigmund Freud
- D.H. Lawrence
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- F.R. Leavis
- I.A. Richards
- The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
There is no value in studying a story for itself. The only value is using a story to talk about other things, namely psychology.
I.A. Richards
- De Descriptione Temporum lecture by C.S. Lewis
I myself belong far more to that Old Western order than to yours. I am going to claim
C.S. Lewis, De Descriptione Temporum Lecture
that this, which in one way is a disqualification for my task, is yet in another a qualification. The disqualification is obvious. You don’t want to be lectured on Neanderthal Man by a Neanderthaler, still less on dinosaurs by a dinosaur…There are not going to be many more dinosaurs.
The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.
C.S. Lewis, Introduction to Athanasius: The Incarnation of the Word of God
The man who is contented to be only himself, and therefore less a self, is in prison. My own eyes are not enough for me, I will see through those of others.
C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
05. “Deep Frye”
Q. When I reached out to ask you what you might like to talk about today you suggested Northrop Frye, someone I knew fairly little about, and all that I knew was from references to him on your podcast. So, for the rest of the time we’ve got today, would you mind introducing our listeners to Frye? Who was he? How is he connected to Lewis and literary theory?
- Northrop Frye
- Owen Barfield
- On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake by Northrop Frye
- T.S. Elliot
- Maud Bodkin
- Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays by Northrop Frye
06. “First Steps”
Q. If someone wanted to dip their toe into Northrop Frye, how would you recommend someone begin?
- Online Classes from House of Humane Letters
- The Educated Imagination by Northrop Frye
- Northrop Frye on Shakespeare by Northrop Frye
- The Complete Father Brown Stories by G.K. Chesterton
- How to Read Fairy Tales class by House of Humane Letters
07. “Learning A, B, Cs…”
Q. In closing, I have two children. Now, they are both young at the moment – Alexander is two and half and Lucy is six months. What parting advice do you have for me to raise them to be good readers?
There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
- Adventures by Willard Price
- Nancy Drew Starter Set by Carolyn Keene
- Dorothy L. Sayers
- The Complete Miss Marple Collection by Agatha Christie
- King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
