Frye, Northrop National Historic Person

Toronto, Ontario
26 Sept. 1984 (© Harry Palmer/Library and Archives Canada//Bibliothèque et Archives Canada/PA-183431)
Northrop Frye
(© Harry Palmer/Library and Archives Canada//Bibliothèque et Archives Canada/PA-183431)
Address : 73 Queen's Park Crescent East, Toronto, Ontario

Recognition Statute: Historic Sites and Monuments Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. H-4)
Designation Date: 2018-02-27
Life Date: 1912 to 1991

Other Name(s):
  • Frye, Northrop  (Designation Name)
  • Frye, Herman Northrop  (Other Name)
Research Report Number: 2017-04

Importance: Pre-eminent literary theorist, critic, and university educator

Plaque(s)


Northrop Frye was an eminent literary theorist, critic, and teacher, based at Victoria College, University of Toronto, from 1939 to 1991. His systematic approach to literature examined the underlying myths and symbols that inform all of literature, challenged existing critical paradigms, and had a significant international influence, as did his work on the Bible as literature. As a critic, he influenced the work of a number of noted Canadian poets. Interviewed regularly on radio and television, his concept of the “garrison mentality” in the Canadian imagination had a profound impact on English-Canadian literature.