0. Introduction

The History of Story Telling; from cave art to modern literature, spanning human history and the globe.

 

This project, started June 2009, I started researching too long ago to remember. I've always been fascinated with the evolution of literature, and the art of story telling. From newspapers to novels, we are surrounded by people telling us stories; any recount of an event, whether real or not, is story telling.

 

The high quality of cave art compared to some of today's "art" astounds me; in one picture of a horse, it is possible to see the eye lashes. Now, we see a bent paper clip in an art gallery, and call it a masterpiece. Likewise, the beauty in the language, even in translation, of Greek and Roman literature, has been lost in modern literature, where writers, for the most part, seem to be mainly worried about pleasing famous critics.

 

As as writer, I constantly find myself wondering if my ideas are unique, or have been done before. Hopefully, this will prove that no idea is unique; if you think it is, you simply haven't read enough. As an English student, I am told that literature is shaped by history, and history is shaped by literature; in some cases, such as Paradise Lost, I can see how this is true; and yet for pieces like The Moonstone, I find it impossible to use historical context to add meaning to it. Hopefully, I'll either be proved wrong, or I shall, with the utmost dignity and modesty, prove those stupid English teachers a thing or two about the subject they are meant to know so well.

 

Either way, I plan on using this project to enhance my own writing. Sounds quite selfish, but I do plan on bettering my writing using elements from the history of story telling. I also perform poetry, so techniques I talk about in this, about oral tradition, I'm hoping to use as well. I'm fascinated about the past; we cannot see it firsthand, but evidence says it does exist. Now I just have to prove it.

Reviews

[Master Morality]

As the son of an artist I'm inclined to agree heartily with your point about art...

[FairOphelia]

I've just begun reading this and am so excited about reading more. I'll read it in stages and let you know what I think. I love this kind of stuff, it's so fascinating. And I totally agree about the change in the quality of art. It really does look super cool :)

P.s. Is Paradise Lost entirely shaped by history? I'm just being provocative for the sake of it! I just did Paradise Lost in my Renaissance to Restoration module at uni and this was one of the questions we asked of it. Fantastic poem! Anyway, I'm assuming you're refering to New Historicist/Cultural Materialist literary criticism?