2. King Solomon wrote, "There is nothing new under the sun." Foster applies this precept saying that all "writing and telling belong to one big story." What does he mean by this? How does this idea add to understanding and the richness of the reading experience? How have you seen this principle in action in your own experience with art in general?
It has been said many times by many different people (and perhaps that is illustrative of the truth of the quote) that there is only one story. Wise King Solomon said it, the author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster, said it, and countless other philosophers and academics have come to the same conclusion. Many a creative individual have become disillusioned at the concept that there are no more original ideas; humanity has simply been too productive and too creative to allow for new concepts. Even millennia ago, in the time of the wise king, this idea seemed to be true.
He could also mean it the way Carl Jung and many others interpret it: that everything, every character, idea, or setting, is an example of some greater archetype. While Jung applied this to all things, most simply apply it into works of art. As the website, tvtropes.org, shows, almost everything contains some classical archetype either ironically or played straight. It is only through inversions in irony or other minor tweaks that this one "big story" can be subdivided into the small texts we all read and discuss.
It is evident upon looking at the website and even upon reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor that this intertextual relationship is as important to modern literature as functional harmony is to modern music. Without these ideas floating around in the zeitgeist, there is no room for a shared understanding of works or even a similar understanding of individual characters.
I love this concept of zeitgeist. I have stalked it in many areas. It underscores my belief that "everything is everything." I enjoy thinking about the conscious and subconscious way that human ideas and meanings interact in all areas of our lives. Art just seems to emphasize it more!
ReplyDeleteThis was an incredible insight into the metaphorical aspect of intertextuality. While this concept is evident in many works that span from Ancient Greek works to modern day classics, a certain type of connection can be made for each reader individually as well as a collective that transcends the thought that there are no more original ideas. I’d also like to touch on the construct of zeitgeist. This is a new term of which I have not heard before and upon research of it, my knowledge of shared thoughts and ideals in literature, (intertextuality), has expanded to greater lengths. Lastly, I enjoyed how you tied in literature with the art of music. These two ways are profound ways in which millions of people from numerous cultures around the world can relate and bond with one another. It just goes to show that literature is more than mere words on paper.
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