I honestly do not know what to say about this essay other than Northrop Frye really, really, really loves intertextuality. I mean he did a good job in this essay explaining through Shakespeare how one could use this idea. Now I might not buy this idea, but how can you not seem excited about it if you read what Frye wrote. There was one thing I read in this essay that got my brain thinking(completely off the subject),
Some plays are "tragicomedies," a genre that not only Shakespeare buy Beaumont and Fletcher were popularizing from about 1607 onward (Keesey 300).
Now I know this is off the subject but as soon as I read this passage I immediately thought of comedyhorror films, Little shop of Horrors, Evil Dead, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Gremlins, Beetlejuice, Shawn of the Dead, every Nightmare on Elm Street(after part 2) and every Friday the 13th(after part 4), just to name a few. Again I know it is off the subject, but maybe it isn't. I mean these are examples of intertexuality. So Frye by using the "tragicomedies" term got me thinking along the lines of him-intertextuality-by thinking about films. So I did get something out of this essay.
Comments (3)
I think it's good that the comment got you off-track because at least you were thinking while reading and not just digesting every bit of information thrown your way.
Posted by Dave Moio | March 14, 2007 8:39 AM
Posted on March 14, 2007 08:39
I agree with David. Sometimes the only way to understand something is to internalize it and make yourself understand it that way. I also agree with you when you say that Frye really does love intertextuality.
Did you feel that there was more comparing and contrasting in this article than other articles? Just wondering.
Posted by Tiffany | March 15, 2007 3:42 PM
Posted on March 15, 2007 15:42
The Tempest, unlike some of the Greek tragedies, has the ability to "snatch victory from the jaws of defeat". Even though it stay true to the traditional tradgedies Shakespeare would have known at the time, The Tempest shies away form a inevitable outcome of death and defeat.
Posted by Kevin "Kelo The Great" Hinton | March 15, 2007 3:54 PM
Posted on March 15, 2007 15:54