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a book worth looking at
I saw The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories in a book store in Boston (and to the person who posted in the comments on this topic: yes, great bookstores in Cambridge, no question). As it's a big fat book in hardcover, I didn't buy it until I got home.
I love the title of this book already, and the bits I read in the bookstore made me want to read the rest of it. You'll note, if you go to Amazon or look at reviews such as this one by Denis Dutton at the Washington Post, that the critics aren't much pleased with this book, though Dutton gives Christopher Booker credit for his style:Booker, a British columnist who was founding editor of Private Eye, possesses a remarkable ability to retell stories. His prose is a model of clarity, and his lively enthusiasm for fictions of every description is infectious. He covers Greek and Roman literature, fairy tales, European novels and plays, familiar Arabic and Japanese tales, Native American folk tales, and movies from the silent era on. He is an especially adept guide through the twists and characters of Wagner’s operas. His artfully entertaining summaries jogged many warm memories of half-forgotten novels and films.I have yet to sit down with this book, but I'm keeping an open mind. I'm not so interested in the psychological underpinnings of a grand theory, as I am in the fact that Booker looks at storytelling of all kinds and doesn't priviledge one over another. I wonder what he thinks of fan fiction.I wish as much pleasure could be derived from the psychology on which he bases his hypothesis. Booker has been working on this project for 34 years, and his quaint psychological starting point sadly shows its age. He believes Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes and self-realization can explain story patterns. Alas, Jung serves him very poorly.
I'll review this when I've worked my way through, which may take a while.
July 24, 2005 02:01 PM