New and Old

"I'm not saying that there's nothing new in literature: I'm saying that everything is new, and yet recognizably the same kind of thing as the old..." (p.23)

Frye is basically explaining that literature repeats itself in numerous forms. What may seem to be new is actually an old idea that is presented in a different way. This statement made me realize that all the fiction stories we read have already been written about at some point in time. It reminded me of times when I could predict what would happen after just reading a few pages of a book. For example, there are many love stories out there, but they all seem to have similar themes such as unrequited love and forbidden love. Authors skillfully disguise these old stories into new appealing ones. To do this they may add their own spin to an old story. However the final product will still have a sense of familiarity to it, one authors can't quite get rid of. I found this interesting because I've never thought of literature this way before. Now I realize that its all the same, except in different forms.