Northrop Frye, Anatomy, and Formalism

I'm beginning to realize how much I'm going to have to explain my use of Northrop Frye in my dissertation. It seems like Frye is a little more dangerous than I expected because of his "formalism." Thing is, Frye isn't the same as the New Critics, and I think Frye looked much more at process and was, in fact, historical.

I started looking around for some support and found Northrop Frye and the Poetics of Process, by Nella Cotrupi, 2000. I'm checking it out today because from what I've read (here at the review http://www.amazon.com/Northrop-Frye-Poetics-Process-Studies/dp/080204316X and elsewhere), Cotrupi rehabs Frye, who is usually seen as out of style. But I have a hunch that Cotrupi sees something I see, too, but that I'm just beginning to articulate, and lucky for me, she's written a book about it.

One of my friends told me I have to be careful bringing up Frye because it's "easy to get an eye roll." I'd like an eyebrow raise, so someone might be a little surprised and then want to know more about what I'm doing, but an eye roll...no thanks.