Prof. David Staines on Northrop Frye and Evaluative Criticism
Prof. David Staines is a Canadian literary critic, university professor (English at the University of Ottawa), writer, and editor.\xa0 He specializes in three literatures: medieval, Victorian and Canadian. He is editor of the scholarly Journal of Canadian Poetry (since 1986) and general editor of McClelland and Stewart\u2019s New Canadian Library series (since 1988). His essay collections, include The Canadian Imagination (1977), a book that introduced Canadian literature and literary criticism to an American audience, plus studies on Morley Callaghan and Stephen Leacock.
But it\u2019s not for any of this (save a defense of Callaghan in the face of John Metcalf\u2019s condemnations) that I sought\xa0 Prof. Staines\u2019 company. Rather it\u2019s because he co-edited Northrop Frye on Canada (University of Toronto, 2001). Frye, Canada\u2019s most celebrated literary theorist, a man many hold responsible for the dearth of evaluative analysis in Canadian criticism; a man whose thoughts and person Staines knows (and knew) very well; is the reason we met.
Please listen to a conversation that reveals the author of Fearful Symmetry and The Anatomy of Criticism as a surprisingly self contradictory critic; speaks to the remarkable talent of Alice Munro and Canada\u2019s current stock of strong fiction writers; outlines criteria for acceptance into the New Canadian Library; and identifies some of the best Canadian novels.