Eva Kushner

12 TRIBUTE TO H. NORTHROP FRYE split of Hegelian dialectic to a level of reality in which we human beings no longer want to avoid freedom and responsibility for our world by collapsing back into unconsciousness. That level is glimpsed and described by many of the writers among whose works Northrop Frye lived his abundant life. One of them, a faculty member of this university, puts it in these words: THE ANAGOGIC MAN Noah walks with head bent down; For between his nape and crown He carries, balancing with care, A golden bubble round and rare. Its gently shinunering sides surround All us and our worlds, and bound Art and life, and wit and sense, Innocence and experience. Forbear to startle him, lest some Poor soul to its destruction come, Slipped out of mind and past recall As if it never was at all. o you that pass, if still he seems One absent-minded or in dreams, Consider that your senses keep A death far deeper than his sleep. Angel, declare: what sways when Noah nods? The sun, the stars, the figures of the gods. EVA KUSHNER Today, the Royal Society of Canada celebrates with us the life and work of Canada's greatest humanist, and the meaning of that work for Canada and for the international community. Wisely, Northrop Frye left to others the running of organizations. But at crucial moments he was always there with timely judgments and powerful encouragement. Now that the immense, multidisciplinary sum of his labour lies completed before us, it shines forth as a stellar embodiment of the ideals that the Royal Society shares with universities: the pursuit ofdisinterested and structured kriowledge that will TRIBUTE TO H. NORTHROP FRYE 13 contribute to the intelligibility of the world, to our understanding of ourselves, ofcultures,and ofthe aestheticand spiritualexpressions ofthose cultures, and thereby also to societal improvement. On th.e Canadian and international scene Northrop Frye was an indefatigable defender of the liberal arts and of the humanities. So many aspects could be·mentioned: Frye, co-founder of the Comparative Literature movement in Canada, and of graduate programs in it; Frye, president of the Modern Language Association of America, perhaps the largest learned society in the world; Frye, an intellectual leader in the first congress of the International Federation of Modern Languages and Literatures to take place outside Europe and North America, the 1969 congress in Islamabad, Pakistan; Frye, defender of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Humanities Federation in some of the most·difficult moments of their history as they faced underfunding and public unawareness ofthe strategic importance of stretching the frontiers of basic knowledge and of superbly training superb minds; Frye, Canada'sunique culturalambassadorabroad; . Frye, centre of the Northrop Frye Centre, as he impishly titled himself; Norrie, humanist in his sensibilities, his relationships, his life-style; Victoria's chancellor, teacher to us all until a very few days ago; dear, patient, humorous, benevolent colleague and friend. Your memory is our treasure, and our staggering responsibility. PIERRE JU NEAU Like all of you, I'm very moved to be here this afternoon to pay homage to Northrop Frye - to celebrate his continued presence among us. The thinking of Northrop Frye defies the passing of time and wili remain among us; as he said, 'Death itself may simply be one more discontinuity in existence.' Si Ie grain ne meurt, dit-on en fran~ais, on peut se demander, et c'est bien sur lIne malheureuse consolation, pour ses proches et ses amis, si son absence physique n'attirera pas I'attention sur l'importance de sa pensee pour la conduite de nos affaires; il faut l'esperer. I often wonder with sadness why contemporary society seems to know how to deal with the words of economists, accountants, and engineers, for instance - which is fine and actually indispensable - but finds it so difficult to incorporate the thoughtful contribution of people like Northrop Frye in the running of our affairs. It is probably because the questions asked by thinkers like Northrop Fryeand the views they express are too far-reaching, require too much attention, involve too much change, and demand too much work. It...