Chapter 6 Scribal Classics
The Middle Earth Saga
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” So began a tale that, as J. R. R. Tolkien put it, “grew in the telling.” The Hobbit. The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarilion. The saga of Middle Earth flourished with unforgettable scenes and characters: elves, dwarves, ogres, and monsters. Righteous and evil wizards. Sylvan idyls and pitched battles. And a hero’s journey culminating in a harrowing battle against evil.
Walter and the Two Tonys
Scarface (1983). The Sopranos (1999 to 2007). Breaking Bad (2008 to 2013). Gangsters and drug runners. Family drama. Complex heroes whose flaws drag them to destruction. The inescapable hand of fate growing out of sins that won’t remain buried.
Mic Warriors
Two dozen sleepy patrons slumped over their drinks on small tables in a room designed for 300. A spotlight’s glare pinning a wisecracking irreverent to a tiny stage shoved against a back wall. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Let’s get nasty.” The sparking wit of a comic desperately trying to exorcise insecurities in a frenzied series of ironic takes pillorying celebrities and politicians.
What do they all have in common? Well, their influence on our contemporary culture is profound. And structural roots can be traced to a seer in Classical Athens, 2,400 years ago.
The Poetics
Aristotle learned philosophy from Plato who in turn studied under Socrates in the Academy of Athens. Aristotle explored, analyzed, and categorized pretty much everything you can think of. He pioneered a systematic, empirical approach to biology and physics. Aspects of his pre-scientific findings and his analyses of political science and jurisprudence were revered as current authorities as late as the 19th Century.
Oh, yes. And he studied stories. The Poetics were composed in about 350 BCE. Aristotle was fascinated by the rich array of literary forms that flourished in Classical Athens and the other Greek-speaking city-states.
Notice here that Aristotle’s use of the word poetry refers to forms of storytelling:
Do you recognize these categories?
Narration: the “voice” which conveys a story to its audience: a dictating voice, a cinematic camera, a dramatic painting, etc.
1st Person narrative: poets speaking in their “own persons”
3rd Person narrative: poets taking on “another personality” (in Greek the persona, or mask)
Drama: presenting “characters as living and moving before us”
Obviously, writers are still choosing these options today. The Poetics distinguishes between Epic Narrative and two forms of drama: tragedy and comedy. That is, Tolkien, crime dramas, and comedians. Let’s sample bits of classical compositions in light of Aristotle’s formulations.
a telling of a story using some medium: prose, poetry, cinema, painting, etc.