Question 2
At this point, nothing is ever new, whether it be literature, art, or even fashion styles and trends. Throughout Foster’s work, he discusses how there is only “one big story” when it comes to literature, stating, “One story. Everywhere. Always. Wherever anyone puts pen to paper or hands to keyboard or fingers to lute string or quill to papyrus” (Foster 194). It is an interesting topic to dwell on, the fact that although there are so many different mediums and ways to express thoughts, there remains only one singular story. Everything has already been thought of, named, explained, so writing an original work is completely impossible. Foster describes this phenomena as so, “Everywhere you look, the ground is already camped on. So you sigh and pitch your tent where you can, knowing someone else has been there before” (Foster 195). The “camper” that was there before left a cooler and a can of pepper spray, it is up to the new inhabitant to forget what those items are used for and find interesting and unusual ways to make it their own. That is what Foster is trying to express when he mentions the “one big story” and continuing it through intertextuality, using tools that have been left by great minds of the past and creating ways to put them together to improve modern literature. This idea makes literature as a whole extremely more interesting and impressive, because of how intricate modern authors have to be when writing “new” novels. Readers just sit down and read what is presented on the page, but the authors have to spend so much time thinking of what has already been done and how they can rework different components to make something unique to him or her. Having a singular story makes the reading of literature so incredibly important, because through it, people are able to gain knowledge from things they have never heard of or read. Literature is basically like the telephone game, a story is passed on, getting changed every time it moves to a new person with different ideas then the last, but at the end of the game, the story still has only one original start. I have experienced the phenomena of the “one big story” many times, the most popular being the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. Foster mentions this series in his book, but this series is one of the best ways to describe how this principle is seen in real life. Riordan based this series on Greek mythology, a topic that has been written about many times in the past, but found his personal way to make it new and interesting for readers. He mixed ideas of Greek mythology, adventure, and awkward teen moments into an extremely popular book series. All of those components had been used before in writing, but Riordan used them in his own exciting way, creating his own little branch of the one big story.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with your point that even though all literature is connected in one big story, each story seems unique because the authors have to come up with unique ideas that make their stories stand out from others. I also really liked how you used Rick Riordan and his novels centered around mythology as an example of someone who has taken something everyone has heard of and put a new spin on it. I remember that when I was younger, I knew a little bit about mythology and read each of his series multiple times because even though the subject matter would seem boring, he would, like you said, use aspects of his experience as a teenager and a school teacher to make it more interesting.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love the direction you took for answering this question! For instance, your comparison of the way literature is passed down to the telephone game is a very interesting and creative way to imagine the writing process. The game, words, ideas, and inflections are constantly changing, and personal touches are added by each storyteller, however, the main premise generally remains the same. I also very much enjoyed your deeper look into Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. These were some of my favorite books from childhood, (and I remember them being yours too), and they make for a perfect example of how elements such as Greek mythology, (which has been told and retold endless times), adolescence and its many struggles, and the thrill of adventure can be interwoven to create a unique addition to the “one big story.”
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy your response to this question. When I answered it myself I was mostly thinking of all of the literature I have ever read that had obvious similarities with other works of literature. Of course, as you have mentioned, they all have similarities within them, because no idea is original, but as you have also mentioned, nothing at all is original. Everything has been heard, seen, done, and said before and witnessing these reoccurring themes in emotion and action in works of literature allows readers to paint a picture of what they can expect in certain circumstances, as if the author is using other sources to present us with rules-of-the-road. For instance, we know, as Foster mentions, from the fall of Icarus that blatant disobedience, ignorance, and naiivety can cause anyone to land in a rough spot, or in Icarus’s case, fall from grace. In Luke’s case in Riorodan’s “The Lightning Thief,” his disregard for the rules and recklessness lead him to steal the Zeus’s lightning bolt, which may have caused a war if Percy had not intervened and caused him to be rejected by his demigod community. This has takeaways for both future literary references and life. The audience may then be invested intellectually and spiritually/emotionally.
ReplyDeleteI really like the quote by Foster that you used, "Everywhere you look the ground is already camped on" (195). I had not thought about this before, but so many works are related in one way or another. You used the example of a story being passed on, like kids play in the "telephone game". As the story is passed, things are added, taken away or changed. However, it has a link to the original story. Each story teller just adds their own twist. Everything written can find its start somewhere else. Authors just put their own ideas or experience into the story. In the book, Foster also talked about how many literary works can find their link to Shakespeare or the Bible. I think that is an interesting new approach to reading, finding the link or the similarity to other famous works or stories.
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