The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell StoriesBloomsbury Publishing, 11.11.2005 - 736 Seiten This 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. |
Im Buch
Ergebnisse 1-5 von 78
Seite 24
... eventually goes on to become king of Argos . Another celebrated monster - slayer was Theseus , who also grows up alone in the world with his mother . On coming of age he goes to rejoin his father , King Aegeus in Athens , having to kill ...
... eventually goes on to become king of Argos . Another celebrated monster - slayer was Theseus , who also grows up alone in the world with his mother . On coming of age he goes to rejoin his father , King Aegeus in Athens , having to kill ...
Seite 25
... eventually the young giant-slayer succeeds Saul to become his country's greatest king. The hero's immediate reward for slaying the monster may not always be the winning of a 'Princess' and succession to a kingdom: but in some form or ...
... eventually the young giant-slayer succeeds Saul to become his country's greatest king. The hero's immediate reward for slaying the monster may not always be the winning of a 'Princess' and succession to a kingdom: but in some form or ...
Seite 52
... eventually brought about a miraculous transformation in their fortunes . Emerging from the shadows of their wretched former state , they were raised to a position of dazzling splendour , winning the admiration of all who beheld them ...
... eventually brought about a miraculous transformation in their fortunes . Emerging from the shadows of their wretched former state , they were raised to a position of dazzling splendour , winning the admiration of all who beheld them ...
Seite 53
... eventually rises to a position as the Pharaoh's chief minister , ruler over the mighty kingdom of Egypt . It is as modern as the countless versions produced in our own time by Hollywood , so that the very phrase ' rags to riches story ...
... eventually rises to a position as the Pharaoh's chief minister , ruler over the mighty kingdom of Egypt . It is as modern as the countless versions produced in our own time by Hollywood , so that the very phrase ' rags to riches story ...
Seite 59
... eventually recognised as a genius and ends in a blaze of universal acclaim ( usually in fond embrace with the wife or girl he loves , who alone has stood by him during the years of rejection and apparent failure ) . Typical of this ...
... eventually recognised as a genius and ends in a blaze of universal acclaim ( usually in fond embrace with the wife or girl he loves , who alone has stood by him during the years of rejection and apparent failure ) . Typical of this ...
Inhalt
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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Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
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