Since the publication in 1605 of the first modern novel, Don Quixote, a myriad of rules have been
posed on how to construct the ideal story. As the playwright and novelist W.
Somerset Maugham quipped, however, “There are three rules for writing a novel.
Unfortunately, no one knows what they are” (GoodReads, 2015). In the postmodern
era, literary figures have questioned how storytelling as a literary form
impacts literature and the general human consciousness.
Storytelling has been a part of our world since the
beginning of recorded history. The Iliad,
Jesus’ parables, diverse Native American legends, and countless other stories
have been used to provide entertainment, teach morals, and preserve culture.
By examining the elements of storytelling, effects of
storytelling on readers, and the appeal of storytelling in a postmodern
context, we can begin to establish a philosophy of contemporary storytelling. It
is worthwhile to note that storytelling is distinct from formal novel-writing
which, despite its use of storytelling, has traditionally followed rules by
which storytelling, in its most organic form, has not been bound.
Elements of Storytelling
The most basic elements of storytelling are setting,
character, and plot. Someone somewhere does something—more specifically,
something that involves crisis. Writer John le Carré put it this way: “The cat
sat on the mat is not a story. The cat sat on the other cat’s mat is a story.”
Storytellers bring into a situation of crisis the characters of the story.
These characters have different levels of likeability.
The main characters discover something new, either about the world or about
themselves. They usually have the capacity to change, reflected by how they
react to the plot. The plot orients the reader or listener with an appropriate
setting. A crisis affecting one or more characters draws the audience in as
they watch the plot escalate to a climactic moment (or moments).
Another element of storytelling is style. The manner in
which seemingly unrelated elements are weaved together can greatly impact how a
story is perceived. In I, Rigoberta Menchú,
the oppressed Guatemalan woman recollects her life story. Rather than
giving a strict chronology, however, she interrupts events in her life with
side-notes about her culture and family, sometimes even repeating information.
This style gives the warm feeling of sitting down and listening to a relative
tell you a story about your family—despite in this case the dark subject
matter.
Relevance to the audience, cultural and intellectual,
also affects the perception of a story. Specialized knowledge or language may
need to be explained depending on who the story is intended for.
Effect of Storytelling
Storytelling is one of the oldest ways of providing
entertainment and emotional stimuli for human beings. Children are introduced
to storytelling through bed time stories, easy reader books, and children’s
television. This content eventually transitions into novels and adult
communication.
Most simply, stories are used to communicate aspects of events
in an interesting or specific way. Compare for example, the historical record
of the French Revolution with Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities. Both discuss the same general events, but
Dickens tells of the revolution through the eyes of specific characters and
their experience with the terrible events of their time. Beyond communicating
the fates of fictional characters, however, Dickens produces a tale that evokes
emotions.
Emotional response is an integral part of storytelling.
In a Korean study in 2011, audience members were exposed to a film depicting
real life events and gauged for their response. The film, Dogani (Silenced), showed the sexual abuse of children in a Korean
school for the disabled. The audience, finding emotional involvement in the
plot and characters, were outraged that the school staff could take advantage
of blind or deaf children. This contrasts starkly with the actual events of
2005, when the closure of the school brought very little media attention (Bae 312).
Stories are still able to alert our emotions in an increasingly desensitizing
world where everything from police brutality to terrorism are caught on film
and displayed on television and the internet.
Stories also show us who we are. Literature is, on the
foundational level, the expression of man. When we tell stories, we illustrate
parts of ourselves for others to see—or merely for ourselves to see. In the
1995 documentary, The Celluloid Closet,
gay and lesbian filmmakers describe their desperate search for homosexual
people in Hollywood’s work. Finding the breadcrumbs of gay characters (who were
technically forbidden from film for many years), make them feel like they
exist. Some report deep emotional responses to old movies that never said the
word “gay,” but interpreted in that way, provide deep meaning for them.
The characters of stories show us ourselves. How would I
behave in this character’s place? We relate—or do not relate—to characters,
thus giving ourselves a stronger connection not only to literature, but to the
literary culture from which the story derived. This is one way that cultures
survive: through common stories.
Postmodernism and Storytelling
The flexibility of storytelling not only allows for
different effects on audiences. Storytelling has become an important tool of
contemporary postmodern literature. Postmodern writing centers on experience
and experimentation to achieve different effects. Devices such as fragmentation
or paradox, long considered taboo for the formal novel, find their way into raw
storytelling more naturally. By exploring diverse forms of art, postmodernism can
even threaten cultural order “because modernism is restricted to high culture
whereas postmodernism ‘pervades both high and popular culture’ ” (Sacido 12).
It boasts a “depthlessness” that leaves literature without strict political or
emotional contexts (13), giving writers freedom to push the boundaries of their
genres.
Storytelling is the perfect art form to appeal to the
postmodern passion for experiment. Some stories are written not because they
work, but because they could work. This
experimentation can be seen in the realm of postcolonial literature, which
forsakes traditional Western European ideals for those of the author’s
homeland. This could take shape in writing in a dialect, indulging in magical
realism, or creating an unorthodox story structure—to name a few ways.
In the 1994 American film Pulp Fiction, each act of the film concentrates on telling the
story of different characters. It uses a non-linear narrative to enhance its emotional
arc, comment on the nature of life, and provide catharsis. Its fragmented
narrative, crisp dialogue, and vividly portrayed characters make Pulp Fiction a quintessentially
postmodern film.
Storytelling gives an avenue to explore the experiences
of characters who are unreliable, ignorant, or even insane. By working with a
relative pallet of literary tools, writers can provide unique expressions that
broaden the scope of recorded human experience.
Conclusion
The story is a flexible concept, but one that has
remained an essential part of humanity for thousands of years. It has been an
important way to evoke audience feelings and to preserve heritage. Today,
storytelling has found its way into postmodern art as a compelling literary
form that appeals to the expressionism of writers who refuse to be bound to
modernist principles of high art.
Perhaps no one knows the rules of writing a novel, but a
writer with the heart of a storyteller knows that stories do not always follow
the rules. In a literary world of such diverse experimentation, there is no
better time to tell a story—new or old.
Works Cited
Bae, Hyuhn-Suhck, Doowang Lee, and Rosie EunGyuhl Bae. “Emotional
Engagement with the Plot and Characters.” Narrative
Inquiry 24.2 (2014): 309-327. Communication
& Mass Media Complete. Web. 7 May 2015.
Goodreads. “Quote by W. Somerset Maugham.” Goodreads, Inc. Web. 26 July
2015.
Sacido, Jorge. Modernism,
Postmodernism, and the Short Story in English. Amsterdam: Brill Academic
Publishers, 2012. Excelsior College
Library. Web. 26 July 2015.
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