Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Apocalyptic Imagination

Frye's conceptualization of apocalypse intrigued me. Apocalypse not as desolate Gothic aftermath of an absolute destruction of humanity (The Last Man, etc), but as a re-imagining of reality as perceived by man. Not a total destruction of the world as we know it, but literally a destruction of the world as we know it. We do not generally develop or coin positive connections with "apocalypse" and so Frye's unusual denotation of it startled me. To put such positivity into the word, and redefining it to suit his purpose (as he did with "poet," etc.) is a refreshing spin on a tired concept. He does not see the changing perception of man to his imagination as a damning thing by any means, though, only that the revamped concept of man's view of expanse of mind or of self requires a resetting by man, a destruction of the old to allow renewed fervor to be exploited by the newer concept.

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