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 3
... when we look out from our own world into space, we find we have named many of the most conspicuous heavenly bodies ... when we sleep, and when we are awake to focus our attention on these mental patterns we call stories. What this book ...
... when we look out from our own world into space, we find we have named many of the most conspicuous heavenly bodies ... when we sleep, and when we are awake to focus our attention on these mental patterns we call stories. What this book ...
Page 4
... when all seems to be going unbelievably well , to the ' frustration stage ' when things begin to go mysteriously wrong , to the ' nightmare stage ' where everything goes horrendously wrong , ending in that final moment of death and ...
... when all seems to be going unbelievably well , to the ' frustration stage ' when things begin to go mysteriously wrong , to the ' nightmare stage ' where everything goes horrendously wrong , ending in that final moment of death and ...
Page 12
... When I first came to this subject through my initial researches into the basic plots underlying stories, I discovered that in the previous 70 years yet another, much more fundamental, approach to myths and folk tales had been emerging ...
... When I first came to this subject through my initial researches into the basic plots underlying stories, I discovered that in the previous 70 years yet another, much more fundamental, approach to myths and folk tales had been emerging ...
Page 13
... the same source, are shaped around the same basic patterns and are governed by the same hidden, universal rules. At this point our journey can begin. PART ONE The Seven Gateways to the Underworld ' When 13 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL NOTES.
... the same source, are shaped around the same basic patterns and are governed by the same hidden, universal rules. At this point our journey can begin. PART ONE The Seven Gateways to the Underworld ' When 13 INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL NOTES.
Page 37
... when all seems lost . The thriller Another genre of story usually shaped by the Overcoming the Monster plot is the thriller : and here again we see how often thriller writers unconsciously fall back on the age - old stock of ' monster ...
... when all seems lost . The thriller Another genre of story usually shaped by the Overcoming the Monster plot is the thriller : and here again we see how often thriller writers unconsciously fall back on the age - old stock of ' monster ...
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