Body of Vision

Book excerpt: In Body of Vision, Michael Sinding connects Northrop Frye’s groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of the human imagination with cognitive poetics – the cutting-edge school of literary criticism that applies the principles of cognitive science to the interpretation of literary texts and contexts. Sinding undertakes this task through analyses of the interplay of metaphoric and narrative schemas in several forms of cultural mythology. Sinding identifies the profound connections between cognitive views of language, literature, and culture and Frye’s views by exploring three related aspects of Frye’s work – meaning and thought, culture and society, and literary history. He investigates these connections through detailed studies of major cultural texts including Dante’s Divine Comedy, Hobbes’ Leviathan, Rousseau’s Social Contract, and Milton’s "Lycidas." By linking Frye’s classic studies to exciting recent approaches in the humanities and the cognitive revolution of the past few decades, Body of Vision casts Frye’s achievements in a fascinating new light.