Thomas C. Foster expands on King Solomon's idea that "There is nothing new under the sun" in his book How to Read Literature Like a Professor. He first uses an analogy of stories being eels. As outlandish as this may sound, he elaborates to say that while every new piece of art --which encompasses literature, plays, poems, and paintings-- is a new eel, it joins all the other eels in the bond of their "eelness". That is to say that while every story is new it's time, they are all part of one continuous narrative on life. As life goes on people, technology, and normalities change but human life remains the same. Hearts continue to break, people continue to die, and crimes continue to be solved and so on. While this may seem to reduce literature to repetition, it actually opens the reader to a more enriching reading experience. On the surface a centuries old novel wouldn't seem to have any connection to the twenty-first century, upon analyzing the parallels of life and the patterns of literature, a reader can begin to understand and emote with the characters from their own lives the same as they would with a more modern novel. in my own life, I have found a literary relationship between plays as different as Romeo and Juliet and movies like To All The Boys I've Loved Before. Despite the gap in time, both of these pieces provide an eternally valid view on the pain and drama behind a teenage love story. Has a teenager am able to relate as easily to Lara Jean Covey as I am to Juliet. This is due to the continuous story of art and literature. I agree that nothing can be made that is entirely new, but I am grateful that I am able to connect to required literature as much as I can with modern television because of their narrative on human life as it is and always has been.
I like your use and explanation of Foster’s eel analogy in your analysis and the inclusion of artwork as a piece of “text” that also experiences intertextuality with the creators and the audience, like literature. I agree that as life goes on technology and cultural tendencies develop while the basis of human life remains stagnant; however, I also believe human life continues to develop with the changing social and physical environment we survive in. Humans will always need oxygen to survive and there will always be some individuals who find success more easily than others, but as society develops around us, the more detailed experiences of human life will change, like our responses to certain situations or our style. This is why stories from drastically different eras can portray polar opposite plot lines and outcomes and characters but still contain very similar elements, like you explained with the classic Romeo and Juliet, and a more contemporary piece like To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you said all stories are one continuous narrative on life because it provides a different explanation for a confusing idea. I also liked your sentiment where you said, "Hearts continue to break, people continue to die, and crimes continue to be solved and so on." I thought it was profound and it resonated with me as a fundamentally true statement. I also liked how you drew a connection between To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Romeo and Juliet even though they are from very different time periods and have different plots, settings, and characters, but still share a main theme.
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