BEYOND WORDS - ISSUE 5 - FALL 2009 - LIVE, LEARN AND CREATE TOGETHER

It was a windy Sunday afternoon in October. A few hundred people had gathered in the auditorium of a Moncton high school. The master of ceremonies greeted the crowd in English and then immediately welcomed them in French as well. An animated discussion ensued between the internationally renowned author Kathy Reichs World Wide Web site

, the guests and the audience. A question in French was asked from one side of the room and Ms. Reichs was happy to answer it in French. She was just as pleased when asked to respond to a comment in English. Throughout Ms. Reich’s visit to Moncton, New Brunswick last October, English and French were intertwined in a kind of linguistic pas de deux.

The 2008 Frye Festival at a glance:

10 days of festivities to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event;
17,500 participants at events;
24 authors who made 142 school visits and met approximately 10,000 students in five school districts;
$8,000 worth of books donated to participating schools;
$4,600 in prize money for young writers;
125 dedicated volunteers who contributed over 5,000 hours of their time.

“During a Frye Festival World Wide Web site

activity, this kind of fluid bilingualism is only natural,” said Dawn Arnold, chair of this annual literary event. Since it began in 1999, the festival has been inviting both English-speaking and French-speaking authors, bringing them together around the same table for unforgettable meetings where the other language is a richness to be explored. “Our community is bilingual and it makes sense to have a bilingual festival, which brings together two cultures in a meaningful way,” she explained.

The inspiration behind this festival is Northrop Frye, one of the most eminent scholars and thinkers in Canadian history. The festival was named after him and takes place in the community where he grew up. While filming the Voices of Visions documentary in Moncton in 1998, John Ralston Saul and Antonine Maillet talked about creativity in both official languages. Their discussion inspired the bilingual literary festival, which celebrates a great man, Northrop Frye, and a lively cultural community. “According to Northrop Frye, we learn to think in the context of linguistic cohabitation, where the languages exist side by side. When we always speak the same language, we have a tendency to stay on the same path. Speaking more than one language makes us think more,” said Ms. Arnold.

Quebec author Yann Martel World Wide Web site

also discovered the unique bilingualism of the Frye Festival while in Moncton in 2007. Just like Kathy Reichs in October 2008, the author of Life of Pi World Wide Web site

was there to discuss his book in this surprising mix of the two languages. “It was very interesting to see the same reality through the lenses of two different languages,” he said.

“In Montréal, we often talk about the two languages as two solitudes. But in Moncton, they seem to make a good team," he said laughingly.

The Frye Festival even inspired Lee D. Thompson World Wide Web site

, an English-speaking author from Moncton, to delve into the world of French grammar: “I started taking private French lessons because I wanted to fully experience the festival.

After a chance meeting at the festival, a romance developed between Thompson and a French author who invited him to stay with her in France. Their relationship didn’t last long, but the few months he spent on French soil and the break-up that followed inspired his first novel, S. a novel in [xxx] dreams World Wide Web site

. And just like the Frye Festival, the book explores the magic of the two languages through English content peppered with French excerpts.

“The Frye Festival brings together French-speaking and English-speaking authors to better understand each other’s culture. This way, we have a better idea of what unites us rather than what separates us,” said Dawn Arnold.

Who is Northrop Frye?

Herman Northrop Frye was born in Sherbrooke on July 14, 1912. He was seven years old when he moved to Moncton with his family. In 1929, he left Moncton to study at the University of Toronto, where he lived most of his life; first as a student and then as a literary critic and professor of literature.

Northrop Frye’s critically acclaimed book Fearful Symmetry: A study of William Blake came out in 1947. Frye then published many books that were just as noteworthy: Anatomy of Criticism (1957), The Educated Imagination (1963) [translated into French as Pouvoirs de l’imagination in 1969], The Bush Garden (1971), The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (1982) and Words with Power (1990). He also won the Governor General Literary Award for his book Northrop Frye on Shakespeare (1986).

In his role as an educator, Northrop Frye had a tremendous influence, both in Canada and abroad, which continues to be felt today. He heavily influenced an entire generation’s ideas and images of Canada. He gave lectures in hundreds of universities around the world while remaining affiliated with the University of Toronto and his country of birth. He received many awards and signs of recognition and over 30 honourary doctorates.

He passed away in January 1991 in Toronto.