Tribute to H. Northrop Frye 1912–1991

Tribute to H. Northrop Frye 1912- 1991 This number of Letters in Canada is somewhat shorter than in previous years in order to allow us to mark the passing of one of its most illustrious past contributors, Professor Northrop Frye. Throughout the 1950s, Frye contributed the annual surveys of Canadian poetry to Letters in Canada, thereby constituting a rich reflection on Canadian culture that many readers will know from its inclusion in his influential The Bush Garden: Essays on the Canadian Imagination (Toronto: Anansi 1971). Northrop Frye died at the age of seventy-eight on 23 January 1991. A memorial service was held in Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto. This volume opens with the sixteen tributes delivered by the following members of the academic community and the community beyond. JOHN HOFFMAN, Principal of Emmanuel College ROBERT PRICHARD, President of the University of Toronto BOB RAE, Premier of Ontario; graduate of the University of Toronto THE HONOURABLE PAULINE MCGmBON, former Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario; former Chancellor of the University of Toronto; contemporary and lifelong friend of Northrop Frye MARGARET ATWOOD, Author; undergraduate student of Northrop Frye, class of 1961 JOAN FOLEY, Provost of the University of Toronto WARD MCBURNEY, Student of Northrop Frye in 1990; currently a doctoral candidate at Rutgers University ANN SADDLEMYER, Professor of English at Victoria College; Professor of Drama at the University of Toronto; Master of Massey College CLAUDE BISSELL, Professor Emeritus of English; former President of the University of Toronto TED CHAMBERLIN, Professor of English and Comparative Literature; former doctoral student of Northrop Frye ALBERT C. HAMILTON, Professor of English at Queen's University; author of Northrop Frye: An Anatomy ofHis Criticism ALVINA. LEE, Professor of English and former President of McMaster University; Northrop Frye Professor at the Centre for Comparative Literature UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME 61, NUMBER 1, FALL 1991 2 TRIBUTE TO H. NORTHROP FRYE EVA KUSHNER, Professor of French and Comparative Literature; President of Victoria University PIERRE JUNEAU, former Chairman of CRTC (on which Northrop Frye served, 1968-77) ALEXANDRA F. JOHNSTON, Professor ofEnglish; Principal ofVictoria College HOWARD PENTLAND, Secretary of Theological Education, United Church of Canada Invocation JOHN HOFFMAN We have corne in a time of loss and sorrow but we have come to celebrate, remember, and give thanks. Let us pray: Gracious God, father and mother of us all, source of truth and wisdom to those who would know the truth, fount of compassion to those who mourn, open our hearts and minds, our wills and imaginations to the transforming power of your spirit that in this time together we may with deep gratitude remember ourfriend, Northrop Frye, draw strength from his witness to your mystery, power, and love, and dedicate ourselves anew to whatsoever things are true, pure, lovely, and of good report to the honour of your name. Amen. Dr Frye wrote often of mystery, as did St Paul. Behold I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in a twinkling of an eye at the last trump, for the trumpets shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality; then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'death is swallowed up in victory.' 0 death, where is thy sting; 0 grave where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Introduction ROBERT PRICHARD Today we join together in common cause to mourn the loss ofan extraordinary Canadian, Northrop Frye, and to share with his wife, E1i2abeth, our ...