The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell StoriesThis remarkable and monumental book at last provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of 'basic stories' in the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it shows that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling. But this is only the prelude to an investigation into how and why we are 'programmed' to imagine stories in these ways, and how they relate to the inmost patterns of human psychology. Drawing on a vast array of examples, from Proust to detective stories, from the Marquis de Sade to E.T., Christopher Booker then leads us through the extraordinary changes in the nature of storytelling over the past 200 years, and why so many stories have 'lost the plot' by losing touch with their underlying archetypal purpose. Booker analyses why evolution has given us the need to tell stories and illustrates how storytelling has provided a uniquely revealing mirror to mankind's psychological development over the past 5000 years. This seminal book opens up in an entirely new way our understanding of the real purpose storytelling plays in our lives, and will be a talking point for years to come. |
From inside the book
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Page 24
... rival king- dom across the sea in Crete , ruled over by the grim tyrant King ... dark , enclosed stone maze from which no one has ever found a way out ... black sail to show his father that he has returned victorious , King Aegeus throws ...
... rival king- dom across the sea in Crete , ruled over by the grim tyrant King ... dark , enclosed stone maze from which no one has ever found a way out ... black sail to show his father that he has returned victorious , King Aegeus throws ...
Page 54
... dark' figures who overshadow the hero or heroine in the early stages of the ... dark figures are always presented in the same light. In their scornful attitude ... rival for the hand of Agnes, the treacherous Uriah Heep; or in Jane Eyre's ...
... dark' figures who overshadow the hero or heroine in the early stages of the ... dark figures are always presented in the same light. In their scornful attitude ... rival for the hand of Agnes, the treacherous Uriah Heep; or in Jane Eyre's ...
Page 61
... darkness. But Aladdin has been instructed on no account to touch any of this. He must venture right to the back of the ... dark rival, and wins the Princess's hand. He is transformed by the genie into a splendid and wealthy young man ...
... darkness. But Aladdin has been instructed on no account to touch any of this. He must venture right to the back of the ... dark rival, and wins the Princess's hand. He is transformed by the genie into a splendid and wealthy young man ...
Page 64
... dark rival has gone. Jane finds Rochester, alone and blind, in the middle of a forest. She lovingly nurses him back to health and sight. They are at last married and completely united. They end up presiding over their little kingdom and ...
... dark rival has gone. Jane finds Rochester, alone and blind, in the middle of a forest. She lovingly nurses him back to health and sight. They are at last married and completely united. They end up presiding over their little kingdom and ...
Page 65
... dark rival ' , the insinuating Uriah Heep , who is scheming to marry her ( as a kind of cross between the Sorcerer and St John Rivers ) . Only when Heep's scheming is exposed and his power overthrown at the climax of the story are hero ...
... dark rival ' , the insinuating Uriah Heep , who is scheming to marry her ( as a kind of cross between the Sorcerer and St John Rivers ) . Only when Heep's scheming is exposed and his power overthrown at the climax of the story are hero ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
THE COMPLETE HAPPY ENDING | 237 |
MISSING THE MARK | 345 |
WHY WE TELL STORIES | 541 |
The Light and the Shadows on the Wall | 699 |
Authors Personal Note | 703 |
Glossary of Terms | 707 |
Bibliography | 711 |
Index of Stories Cited | 715 |
General Index | 720 |
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Common terms and phrases
Aladdin Amleth anima Anna Karenina archetypal arrives beautiful become begins central figure centre century characters Comedy comes complete consciousness Creon Dark Father dark feminine dark figure dark masculine dark power Dark Rival death developed Don Giovanni Dream Stage egocentric egotism emerge eventually everything familiar fantasy film finally girl goal Hamlet happens happy ending heart hero and heroine hero or heroine human imagination inner James Bond Jane Eyre journey killed king kingdom liberated light lives look Macbeth married Moby Dick mother murder mysterious nature Nightmare Stage novel obsession Odysseus Oedipus ordeals Overcoming the Monster pattern play plot Princess Quest Rags to Riches realise recognise represents role seems seen sense shadow storytelling symbolic symbolised Teiresias tells Theseus thing Tragedy transformation true turn type of story ultimately uncon unconscious values Voyage and Return whole wife Wise Old woman young