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. |
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Page 34
... centre of this web of evil is the wicked usurer , Uncle Ralph himself . The action centres first on the liberation of Nicholas's sister Kate from the predatory clutches of Ralph's disreputable friend Sir Mulberry Hawk , another ' Hydra ...
... centre of this web of evil is the wicked usurer , Uncle Ralph himself . The action centres first on the liberation of Nicholas's sister Kate from the predatory clutches of Ralph's disreputable friend Sir Mulberry Hawk , another ' Hydra ...
Page 38
... centre of his web , but that web has a thousand radi- ations , and he well knows every quiver of them . ' The thrillers of John Buchan made lavish use of similar imagery . In The Thirty Nine Steps , for instance , the hero Richard ...
... centre of his web , but that web has a thousand radi- ations , and he well knows every quiver of them . ' The thrillers of John Buchan made lavish use of similar imagery . In The Thirty Nine Steps , for instance , the hero Richard ...
Page 67
... centre of all his ambitions , the great city of Paris , where he wins the post of private secretary to the magnifi- cent Marquis de la Mole , the most powerful man in France . He unscrupulously worms his way into the heart of his ...
... centre of all his ambitions , the great city of Paris , where he wins the post of private secretary to the magnifi- cent Marquis de la Mole , the most powerful man in France . He unscrupulously worms his way into the heart of his ...
Page 70
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Page 71
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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