In “The Great Code: The Bible and Literature”, Northrop Frye, the Canadian literary critic, studies the language, mythology, metaphor and typology of the Bible in two parts enjoying symmetric structures, as two mirrors facing one another. This study is in fact a literary criticism following a mythological approach. Frye believes that the Bible calls for a kind of “symbolic interpretation”, because although as a Holy Book and as far as its function and goal is concerned, it can not be taken as a work of literature, the Book possesses all the distinguishing features of a literary work and for the very reason has had a decisive influence on the literary works and trends.
This article, besides giving a general review of Frye’s book, tries to examine the seven stages of Revelation—from Genesis to Apocalypse—on the basis of an analytic and critical reading.
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