A unified theory of literature

[Jochen Fromm-5]

Can everything ever written boiled down
to a few fundamental stories?
Christopher Booker argues in his book
"Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories "
that everything can be classified by
just seven plots:

1. Overcoming the monster
2. Rags to riches
3. A journey - the quest
4. A journey - the voyage and return
5. Comedies
6. Tragedies
7. Rebirth

Or is there just one: "there once was
a problem, and it got resolved" which
includes all detective and adventure
stories - "there once was something to
find out, and someone did it". What do
you think? Can life really be distilled to
a few basic stories?

-J.

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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[Dale Schumacher]

We are born, we struggle through life, we die.  Are all our lives the same?  Is the richness of experience not in the details?

The blues are defined by a single 12-bar pattern.  Does that make all blues music the same?

On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 1:40 PM, Jochen Fromm <[hidden email]> wrote:

Can everything ever written boiled down to a few fundamental stories? Christopher Booker argues in his book
"Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories "
that everything can be classified by just seven plots:

1. Overcoming the monster
2. Rags to riches
3. A journey - the quest
4. A journey - the voyage and return
5. Comedies
6. Tragedies
7. Rebirth
Or is there just one: "there once was a problem, and it got resolved" which
includes all detective and adventure stories - "there once was something to find out, and someone did it". What do you think? Can life really be distilled to a few basic stories?

-J.

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Pamela McCorduck]

Those seven themes are universal. But the deliciousness is in the details.  Furthermore, in literature, those themes intertwine. Consider Der Ring de Niebelungen. Nearly all those themes are present in the work in its entirety. 

On Apr 23, 2011, at 6:06 PM, Dale Schumacher wrote:

We are born, we struggle through life, we die.  Are all our lives the same?  Is the richness of experience not in the details?

The blues are defined by a single 12-bar pattern.  Does that make all blues music the same?

On Sat, Apr 23, 2011 at 1:40 PM, Jochen Fromm <[hidden email]> wrote:

Can everything ever written boiled down to a few fundamental stories? Christopher Booker argues in his book
"Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories "
that everything can be classified by just seven plots:

1. Overcoming the monster
2. Rags to riches
3. A journey - the quest
4. A journey - the voyage and return
5. Comedies
6. Tragedies
7. Rebirth
Or is there just one: "there once was a problem, and it got resolved" which
includes all detective and adventure stories - "there once was something to find out, and someone did it". What do you think? Can life really be distilled to a few basic stories?

-J.

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

If She Only Had One Minute

What would she put in it?
She wouldn't put
she thinks; she would take,
suck it up 
like a deep lake

		Kay Ryan

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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

[Leigh Fanning]

Shouldn't Love be on this list, even though it has context as a subset
of at least comedies and tragedies?

Leigh

On 23 Apr 2011 at 08:40 PM, Jochen Fromm related

> Can everything ever written boiled down to a few fundamental stories?  
> Christopher Booker argues in his book
> "Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories "
> that everything can be classified by just seven plots:
>
> 1. Overcoming the monster
> 2. Rags to riches
> 3. A journey - the quest
> 4. A journey - the voyage and return
> 5. Comedies
> 6. Tragedies
> 7. Rebirth
>
> Or is there just one: "there once was a problem, and it got resolved"
> which
> includes all detective and adventure stories - "there once was something
> to find out, and someone did it". What do you think? Can life really be
> distilled to a few basic stories?
>
> -J.
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Greetings, all --

Allow me to quote from Pamela's excellent suggestion of a few months ago that we read James  Wood's "How Fiction Works". In the initial pages, Wood quotes, in turn, Henry James:

There is only one recipe - to care a great deal for the cookery

I believe this suggests that indeed we are likely (bound? in all its meanings) to find common themes.

I'm unaware of a companion text on "How Fact Works", which could mean that it's somehow different if we're talking IRL, as the kids say.

- Claiborne -


On Apr 23, 2011, at 22:31, Leigh Fanning <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Shouldn't Love be on this list, even though it has context as a subset
> of at least comedies and tragedies?
>
> Leigh
>
> On 23 Apr 2011 at 08:40 PM, Jochen Fromm related
>> Can everything ever written boiled down to a few fundamental stories?  
>> Christopher Booker argues in his book
>> "Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories "
>> that everything can be classified by just seven plots:
>>
>> 1. Overcoming the monster
>> 2. Rags to riches
>> 3. A journey - the quest
>> 4. A journey - the voyage and return
>> 5. Comedies
>> 6. Tragedies
>> 7. Rebirth
>>
>> Or is there just one: "there once was a problem, and it got resolved"
>> which
>> includes all detective and adventure stories - "there once was something
>> to find out, and someone did it". What do you think? Can life really be
>> distilled to a few basic stories?
>>
>> -J.
>>
>> ============================================================
>> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
>> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
>> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org