Much aDo aboUt nothinG...
Aristotle names 3 elements of narration of plot. In Greek, they are hamartia, anagnorisis and peripeteia. Roughly, they translate as ‘tragic flaw’, ‘realisation’ and ‘reversal of fortune’ respectively.
Then along came Valdimir Propp, who studied a hundred Russian fables and fairy tales to compile his own list of the constituents of a narrative plot. The list numbered 31, and as common sensical as they are, they bear significance.
In my one and a half decades of literacy, I think I have probably read a few hundred books and probably studied a small fraction of them in detail. An absolutely average figure, I must say. But based on my limited range and scope, it seems to me that the plot of most of the books I’ve read revolves around only a few common grounds. Apart from educational books, religious books and informative books (such as recipe books or National Geographic or the Analects), books from most genres (be it Gothic, Romance, Tragedy, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, etc) all appear to be based on Sex, Love, Power, Money or a combination of them.
These are very broad categories and I fear I might be trying too hard to make them all encompassing. It is hard to tie each of the four into any definition. Love, could be brotherly love or puppy love or even love for puppies. Sex could range from faint physical intimacy to the final deed. Power could refer to the power to control a whole nation, another person or just a remote control. And Money perhaps just means anything material.
Let me attempt to crudely truncate the history of English text with the following examples to justify my earlier claim.
1) In Chaucer’s acclaimed Canterbury Tales (Middle English?), there are countless examples of the four elements I’ve named. For example, The Nun’s Priest Tale, the vain cockerel forgets about the impending danger of the sly fox when he copulates with his hens. However subtly it was written, I think there is a hint of how lust can ruin a cockerel……and hence a man likewise.
2) In Shakespeare’s play, Merchant of Venice,(1500-1600s) the plot and theme centralises on how Shylock’s craftiness coupled with his cruel love for money almost causes the life of a fellow man.
3) In Charlotte Bronte’s autobiography, Jane Eyre(Gothic era), the female protagonist falls in love with Mr Rochester and with the element of Love aside, I think there is also a struggle of Power because it is a typically feminist text depicting a battle where each gender tries to dominate the other.
4) In Dicken’s Great Expectations(1800s?), the plot dwells on the life of the main character, Pip, and how he falls in love with Estella and his rise in the social ladder after receiving a sponsored education from a jail inmate.
5) In Ondaatje’s The English Patient(1990s), the plot progresses with narration of two love stories, one in flashback and the other in the present. It is about the past affair of the charred patient and his pitiful bride and the ongoing romance of Kip and a Canadian nurse.
6) In Virginia Andrew’s semi-erotic, semi-cliché novel, Dawn(how appropriately titled), there are vivid scenes of incest, rape and sex. You name it and you have it. If anyone really was reading for the plot, it is actually about two young men fighting for an inheritance…and an even hotter girl to bed.
Somehow I think this could be a universal phenomenon. Let me try to extend the claim to Chinese novels. I believe these elements appear most obviously in Louis Chia’s sword fighting novels. Characters yearn to acquire some deadly martial arts to become the all powerful pugilistic leader.(欧阳峰) Others prefer to go through thick and thin for the sake of love.(黄容and 郭靖) And of course, there are those who scheme and plot for the sake of treasure and wealth.(飞狐外传).
Perhaps an equally fitting example would be the classics such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms where there is a perpetual clash of interest in power hungry warlords. Romance of the Red Chambers would suffice to fulfil the requirements of a book about Love and Sex. And in Water Margins, many a good lad was forced into poverty because others robbed them of their family estate. （九纹龙）
Moving on to the more contemporary Chinese works, there are still instances where the four elements are present. 聊斋志异comes to mind because in its collection of more than a hundred tales of the uncanny, many have plots laid down in Power, Money, Love and especially Sex. Take the story of 小倩for instance. A young scholar meets a mesmerising female ghost and saves her from the crutches of a tree demon. He marries her, she bears two children for him(yes, they had sex) and they lived happily ever after.
I think a more familiar, albeit a more trashy, recent Chinese text would be 突破, a Chinese reading material back at high school. The Power and Money part lies in the characters trying to build up an enterprise and an empire in the business sector. I think I can give the Sex part a quick introduction by just saying someone got gang raped. ‘Nuff said.
And then I realise my post is becoming more and more dry. And more and more like some Lit assignment more than anything else. Initially, I wanted to write about the type of books I enjoy ….Urrrgh. Oh! I get it…doesn’t it make sense that if I claim that books are all about Love, Sex, Power and Money, then the type of books that I enjoy would be about Love, Sex, Power and Money?
Actually that isn’t the case, but I think I’m overdosed on blogging for the night. KIV until next time. Tired.
Then along came Valdimir Propp, who studied a hundred Russian fables and fairy tales to compile his own list of the constituents of a narrative plot. The list numbered 31, and as common sensical as they are, they bear significance.
In my one and a half decades of literacy, I think I have probably read a few hundred books and probably studied a small fraction of them in detail. An absolutely average figure, I must say. But based on my limited range and scope, it seems to me that the plot of most of the books I’ve read revolves around only a few common grounds. Apart from educational books, religious books and informative books (such as recipe books or National Geographic or the Analects), books from most genres (be it Gothic, Romance, Tragedy, Horror, Thriller, Fantasy, etc) all appear to be based on Sex, Love, Power, Money or a combination of them.
These are very broad categories and I fear I might be trying too hard to make them all encompassing. It is hard to tie each of the four into any definition. Love, could be brotherly love or puppy love or even love for puppies. Sex could range from faint physical intimacy to the final deed. Power could refer to the power to control a whole nation, another person or just a remote control. And Money perhaps just means anything material.
Let me attempt to crudely truncate the history of English text with the following examples to justify my earlier claim.
1) In Chaucer’s acclaimed Canterbury Tales (Middle English?), there are countless examples of the four elements I’ve named. For example, The Nun’s Priest Tale, the vain cockerel forgets about the impending danger of the sly fox when he copulates with his hens. However subtly it was written, I think there is a hint of how lust can ruin a cockerel……and hence a man likewise.
2) In Shakespeare’s play, Merchant of Venice,(1500-1600s) the plot and theme centralises on how Shylock’s craftiness coupled with his cruel love for money almost causes the life of a fellow man.
3) In Charlotte Bronte’s autobiography, Jane Eyre(Gothic era), the female protagonist falls in love with Mr Rochester and with the element of Love aside, I think there is also a struggle of Power because it is a typically feminist text depicting a battle where each gender tries to dominate the other.
4) In Dicken’s Great Expectations(1800s?), the plot dwells on the life of the main character, Pip, and how he falls in love with Estella and his rise in the social ladder after receiving a sponsored education from a jail inmate.
5) In Ondaatje’s The English Patient(1990s), the plot progresses with narration of two love stories, one in flashback and the other in the present. It is about the past affair of the charred patient and his pitiful bride and the ongoing romance of Kip and a Canadian nurse.
6) In Virginia Andrew’s semi-erotic, semi-cliché novel, Dawn(how appropriately titled), there are vivid scenes of incest, rape and sex. You name it and you have it. If anyone really was reading for the plot, it is actually about two young men fighting for an inheritance…and an even hotter girl to bed.
Somehow I think this could be a universal phenomenon. Let me try to extend the claim to Chinese novels. I believe these elements appear most obviously in Louis Chia’s sword fighting novels. Characters yearn to acquire some deadly martial arts to become the all powerful pugilistic leader.(欧阳峰) Others prefer to go through thick and thin for the sake of love.(黄容and 郭靖) And of course, there are those who scheme and plot for the sake of treasure and wealth.(飞狐外传).
Perhaps an equally fitting example would be the classics such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms where there is a perpetual clash of interest in power hungry warlords. Romance of the Red Chambers would suffice to fulfil the requirements of a book about Love and Sex. And in Water Margins, many a good lad was forced into poverty because others robbed them of their family estate. （九纹龙）
Moving on to the more contemporary Chinese works, there are still instances where the four elements are present. 聊斋志异comes to mind because in its collection of more than a hundred tales of the uncanny, many have plots laid down in Power, Money, Love and especially Sex. Take the story of 小倩for instance. A young scholar meets a mesmerising female ghost and saves her from the crutches of a tree demon. He marries her, she bears two children for him(yes, they had sex) and they lived happily ever after.
I think a more familiar, albeit a more trashy, recent Chinese text would be 突破, a Chinese reading material back at high school. The Power and Money part lies in the characters trying to build up an enterprise and an empire in the business sector. I think I can give the Sex part a quick introduction by just saying someone got gang raped. ‘Nuff said.
And then I realise my post is becoming more and more dry. And more and more like some Lit assignment more than anything else. Initially, I wanted to write about the type of books I enjoy ….Urrrgh. Oh! I get it…doesn’t it make sense that if I claim that books are all about Love, Sex, Power and Money, then the type of books that I enjoy would be about Love, Sex, Power and Money?
Actually that isn’t the case, but I think I’m overdosed on blogging for the night. KIV until next time. Tired.
posted by sUmmEr heAt at 11:36 AM
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