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 9
... familiar with vir- tually the whole of the surviving literature of classical times , not to mention most of the outstanding plays and novels written since the Renaissance ( at least in English ) . It seems clear that his sharp and ...
... familiar with vir- tually the whole of the surviving literature of classical times , not to mention most of the outstanding plays and novels written since the Renaissance ( at least in English ) . It seems clear that his sharp and ...
Page 25
... familiar image of a kingdom which has fallen under a terrible shadow: the little community of Heorot which is nightly menaced by the predatory assaults of the mysterious monster Grendel. The young hero Beowulf comes from across the sea ...
... familiar image of a kingdom which has fallen under a terrible shadow: the little community of Heorot which is nightly menaced by the predatory assaults of the mysterious monster Grendel. The young hero Beowulf comes from across the sea ...
Page 42
... familiar sequence whereby initial dream - like curiosity leads first to frustration , then to a nightmare running out of control , it gradually emerges that the cylinder had originated from Mars . A civilisation threatened with ...
... familiar sequence whereby initial dream - like curiosity leads first to frustration , then to a nightmare running out of control , it gradually emerges that the cylinder had originated from Mars . A civilisation threatened with ...
Page 45
... familiar is this moment of liberation , ' the thrilling escape from death ' , that in certain kinds of popular storytelling it has become a cliche , almost a joke : ' saved in the last reel by the US Cavalry , we say ; or think of the ...
... familiar is this moment of liberation , ' the thrilling escape from death ' , that in certain kinds of popular storytelling it has become a cliche , almost a joke : ' saved in the last reel by the US Cavalry , we say ; or think of the ...
Page 47
... darted upwards , flashing leaped into the sunshine , opened his great jaws and swallowed both canoe and Hiawatha . ' ( Note the familiar anthropomorphisation of the animal ' monster 47 THE MONSTER ( II ) AND THE THRILLING ESCAPE FROM DEATH.
... darted upwards , flashing leaped into the sunshine , opened his great jaws and swallowed both canoe and Hiawatha . ' ( Note the familiar anthropomorphisation of the animal ' monster 47 THE MONSTER ( II ) AND THE THRILLING ESCAPE FROM DEATH.
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