Nella Cotrupi

Who is Nella Cotrupi?

Nella Cotrupi is an Italian-born Canadian author, lawyer, scholar, and educator. She has also been a candidate for public office. Her scholarly work on Canadian literary theorist, Northrop Frye, has focused on the social function of literature and the role that metaphorical language plays in process poetics. She has written and presented on the links between process theology and process poetics.

Dr. Cotrupi's book, Northrop Frye and The Poetics of Process, was the first major work to explore how Longinian poetics, the theories of Giambattista Vico, and process thinking influenced Frye's writing. Taking her cue from Frye's notion that cultural and literary works function as the laboratory for fashioning new and hopefully, better worlds, she explores the notion that some literature does indeed function as a secular scripture, carving out a path for individual and collective moral acts.

In 2002 she delivered the keynote address to the Northrop Frye Festival titled "Process and Possibility: Northrop Frye’s Spiritual Vision".

Cotrupi was a candidate for political office in the riding of Richmond Hill, Ontario, during one provincial election and one federal election, and has served as President of the Richmond Hill New Democratic Party riding association since 2003.