“The world is a set of stories which must be chosen among.” –
Walter Fisher
H.
Porter Abbott, in his Introduction to
Narrative, suggests that narrative is universal, forming from the moment we
start stringing words together. However, he also points out that narrative
discourse and story are not technically the same thing, and brings up the
question: Which came first, the discourse or the story? Although discourse
comes to us when we first start speaking, does story come only when we speak it
as well?
The
quote above suggests that story is not actually dependent on narrative
discourse. Stories, as Fisher points out, are cultural constructs that serve a
purpose, whether spoken aloud or not. This causes me to think of stories as cultural
constructs and perceptions of reality. Everybody has their own story, their own
perception of the world and the people in it. Thus, if we go by this idea, then
Fisher’s statement is profound, for he is suggesting that the entire world not
only includes a set of stories, but actually is a set of stories. Every person
chooses and perceives their stories through their own cultural lens. This is
indicative of Hans Robert Jauss’s argument that, as each person brings their
own set of experience and belief to each story they perceive, they construct
their reaction to and perception of each story in accordance with what he calls
their horizon of expectation.
Interestingly,
he does not say that the world is an infinite number of stories to be chosen
from. He says that it is a set of
stories to be chosen among. As Jauss
would suggest, one’s horizon of expectation adjusts and readjusts each time we approach
a story, and thus is ever-changing. Fisher could be suggesting here that the
stories that make up the world may be only a finite “set,” but that we are
constantly choosing the same stories over and over, but with different
expectations and perceptions of these stories based on our ever-changing
horizons of expectations.
When
reading Fisher's quote, a line from Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale is brought to mind: “I don’t pretend reality is
the same for everyone.” With these words in mind, I am inclined to believe that
Fisher’s quote coincides with the ever-changing perceptions of reality that is
not the same for everyone, and is not always the same for even one person. It
is constantly evolving so that the stories that make up the world are not only
to be selected, but to be constantly chosen, returned to, and chosen again. The
stories surround us, change us, and are changed by us.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your emphasis on the importance of the story element. Since the start of this class, I've struggled to understand story as different from narrative and vice versa. I do, however, agree with you. Stories are a part of who we are and reflect us in every sense of the word. In addition, I do appreciate that many of the readings thus far (too many to name this early) emphasize this important concept that each classic existed in some shape or form earlier. If that's the case, then why is our society (many folks who don't know much about or appreciate the importance of a good story) eager to claim that our literary legends like Shakespeare and even Dr. King stole their material from others. I don't know if it's naive or perfectly acceptable for me to believe that both icons were simply influenced greatly by the material they read. I would not make an argument that the material was necessarily stolen; I would argue that maybe the structures and some of the ideas may be the same, but literature builds off of other literature. That's kind of the point. Sorry for my extensive comment, but your post made me think a bit further than I intended to. Anyway to wrap up, our readings thus far indicate that these literary patterns of ideas (I don't want to say the word plot) will surface over and over again, and this is acceptable. It's even appreciated because a bigger audience will relate.
Best,
Aida
I think picking up on the careful (but of course, wonderfully ambiguous!) phrasing of Fisher is your most import observation here. "A set" does not indicate infinite stories - but as you indicate, if reality is different for each of us, we are reading all of these potential stories differently. And that actually does offer an infinite set of interpretations.
ReplyDeleteAida, you made me think about the idea that all the stories have already been told (my favorite author, John Barth, deals repeatedly with this idea in his essays and fiction), and that we just keep repeating ourselves. That is not necessarily discouraging if we believe there are an infinite amount of new readers to choose among and - as Elizabeth suggests - change them.