Archetypal Literary Theory in the Postmodern Era is a journal article documented by Darrell Dobson in 2005. The main argument of this paper is to clear the difference that lies in archetype and archetype image. For a long time Fyre had a hard time responding to postmodern critics about his archetypal literary theory. This paper was written in the postmodern era when the most writers had completely forgotten about the importance of archetypal literary theory in literature. The writer of the article seeks to explain how Northrop Fyre described and explained archetypal theory and how the theoretical approaches relate to that of Jung and Bogdan. This paper will therefore evaluate the theoretical positions that Fyre used in the archetypal theory and how the writer of the paper manages to articulate the ideas.
Summary
In the article, the writer shows that postmodern critics have a problem with Fyre’s explanation about the importance of ideology in literal analysis. It is evident that Fyre had placed less importance on the ideology than he placed n the universal nature of mythic organizations and mythology. Dobson explains Fyre’s argument about the importance of mythology over ideology. Northrop Fyre state that mythology is essential in archetypal literature since it is constant while ideologies develop over time and dissolve. Fyre also posts that ideologies place personal and political agendas before literal agendas. He adds that many modern critics are stuck on the ideological level as they are captivated by ideologies other than literature itself. The article also contains Bogdan critic about Fyre’s approach and stating that his argument are quite patriarchal. The writer then concludes the paper by trying to show that relationship that exists between Fyre’s ideas and those of Bogdan through the approaches and thoughts of Jung.
Evaluation
The paper has a logical structure used to give a detailed analysis about Fyre, Bogdan and Jung positions on archetypal literature. Dobson begins by explaining Fyre’s positions about archetypal literature. He then explains why Fyre’s prefers mythological; archetype over ideological archetype. There are a number of pages cited that contain direct quotations from Northrop book to support the claims. He later follows with Bogdan’s perspective and why she thinks that Fyres’s positions are patriarchal. At the end of the paper, the writer tries to reconcile Fyre’s positions with that of the postmodern critics with support evidence from Jung’s perceptions and thoughts about the archetypal literature.
The writer also uses ethos to appeal to his audience about the topic arguments that exist between the Fyre’s critics and Fyre’s position about ideology and myths in archetype. Etos refers to the ability of an individual to appear knowledgeable and well conversant with the topic at hand. Darrell Dobson holds a PhD from the University of Toronto at the Institute for studies in education. He is the founder of the Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies. He has numerous publications in the field of development teaching methodologies, course content, literature and teacher education. His interest in creativity literature and the qualification he has acquired over the years make him knowledgeable in analyzing Fyre’s positions about Fyre’s archetypal literature.
The arguments Darrell presents in the paper also appeal to the emotions of the readers. In the paper, it is clear that Fyre’s theories about the importance of mythologies over ideologies in literature. His positions also bring a lot of arguments from feminists such as Bogdan. However, when Darrell explains he states that each point of the argument is important as it sheds a lot of light on the topic in question. He uses the example of a sonata and the different critical approaches people use. For example, he states that some feminists disregard a Sonata because it is the representation of a man’s sexual experience. On the other hand, other critics state that the sonata is also a representation of a woman during the childbearing process. So it is easy for people to interpret things differently depending on their circumstances. Thus this argument shows why feminists think that Fyre’s arguments about archetypal ideologies are patriarchal.
The writer also uses both persuasive and expository writing to explain the facts about the arguments laid. First Darrell explains why Fyre states that he values mythologies over ideologies in literature by directly quoting paragraphs from his books. He also explains that Fyre did not satisfy his critics’ questions using a perfect explanation. He then follows by a detailed explanation of why Bogdan thinks Fyres position on archetype is patriarchal in nature. Finally he uses Jung’s theories on archetype to explain why Fyre placed more importance on mythology over ideologies. He finally adds his own opinion on why he thinks Jung’s provides a detailed explanation of Fyre’s thoughts on archetypal literature.
In conclusion, this article provides a detailed explanation why Fyre loves using mythologies in his literature. He also adds Jung’s ideas to support Fyre claims about the importance of myths in literature. It is a good article that delivers on the views of Archetypal Literary Theory in the Postmodern Era.
Works Cited
Dobson, D. (2005). Archetypal literary theory in the postmodern era. Journal of Jungian Scholarly Studies, 1(1), 1-16.
