Keep the Faith—the Post Frye Thoughts in Humanity Domain

The International Conference on Northrop Frye was held at the Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China, July 2^nd, 2016, sponsored by the Centre for Canadian Studies at Dalian University of Technology, Northrop Frye Centre, Victoria College, University of Toronto, and co-sponsored by the National Centre for Canadian Studies and the Sino-Canadian Cultural and Educational Exchange at Beijing Foreign Studies University. The conference was also supported by the International Cooperation and Exchange Office, Dalian University of Technology.

This international conference was held to review Frye’s legacy and the impact of his contributions to humanities studies in the current global transformation, seeking to initiate a 21st-century transnational study of Frye beyond the Western literary tradition.

Participants of this conference were scholars from Beijing Foreign Studies University, Dalian University of Technology, Capital Normal University, Nanjing University Of Finance & Economics, Capital University of Economics and Business. As a leading researcher in translation studies on Northrop Frye, Professor Qin Mingli reviewed the research outcomes on Frye’s thoughts in the recent fifteen years conducted by Chinese scholars. Professor Qin also proposed four trends considering future studies on Northrop Frye: first, to further define and distinguish the key concepts and frameworks of Frye’s critical theory; second, to analyze the coexistence of the characteristics of science and myth in Frye’s thoughts; third, to study the relationship between Frye’s theory and other literary theories; and fourth, to study the literary and cultural thought of Northrop Frye within the field of literary anthropological study. Professor Geng Liping pointed out the reasonable and unreasonable parts of Frye’s judgment on Canadian’s “garrison mentality”. Professor Yi Xiaoming emphasized that research on Frye’s theory should be done in a broader context of philosophy and theology in order to properly reinterpret the philosophical meaning of Frye’s core concept “myth theory” as a symbol of space.

The most important achievement of this seminar lies in reconstructing Frye’s thoughts in the 21st century, offering new approaches for international Frye studies, defining the value of Frye’s thoughts for constructing the symbiotic basis of global diverse cultures and resetting the historical status of Frye’s thoughts.