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
... realise that there might seriously be some truth in this idea. While writing a book on a quite different subject ,. 1. In many conversations I had about this book during the years when it was being written, the explanation most commonly ...
... realise that there might seriously be some truth in this idea. While writing a book on a quite different subject ,. 1. In many conversations I had about this book during the years when it was being written, the explanation most commonly ...
Page 6
... realise the basic plot which lies behind it. As we shall see, the question of how and why stories can go wrong in this way, usually leaving us, the audience, with a dissatisfied sense that something has somewhere gone adrift, provides ...
... realise the basic plot which lies behind it. As we shall see, the question of how and why stories can go wrong in this way, usually leaving us, the audience, with a dissatisfied sense that something has somewhere gone adrift, provides ...
Page 43
... realise is that the resourceful Princess has programmed Artoo Deetoo with this vital information , along with an urgent appeal for help , before the androids bail out . By the fatal mistake of allowing them to escape , because he thinks ...
... realise is that the resourceful Princess has programmed Artoo Deetoo with this vital information , along with an urgent appeal for help , before the androids bail out . By the fatal mistake of allowing them to escape , because he thinks ...
Page 56
... realised everything that was in them to become.In the best and highest sense, they have become themselves. An example of a Rags to Riches story which makes this point particularly clearly – because, stripped down to this essence, the ...
... realised everything that was in them to become.In the best and highest sense, they have become themselves. An example of a Rags to Riches story which makes this point particularly clearly – because, stripped down to this essence, the ...
Page 61
... realise that a great deal more has to happen before his story can be properly and completely resolved. Indeed it is now that the'central crisis' arrives. While Aladdin is away from the city hunting, his attention all turned on the ...
... realise that a great deal more has to happen before his story can be properly and completely resolved. Indeed it is now that the'central crisis' arrives. While Aladdin is away from the city hunting, his attention all turned on the ...
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