The Seven Basic Plots
Why We Tell Stories
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Narrated by:
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Liam Gerrard
About this listen
This remarkable and monumental book at last provides a comprehensive answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of "basic stories" in the world. Using a wealth of examples, from ancient myths and folk tales via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it reveals that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling.
But this is only the prelude to an investigation into how and why we are "programmed" to imagine stories in these ways, and how they relate to the inmost patterns of human psychology. Drawing on a vast array of examples, from Proust to detective stories, from the Marquis de Sade to E.T., Christopher Booker then leads us through the extraordinary changes in the nature of storytelling over the past 200 years, and why so many stories have "lost the plot" by losing touch with their underlying archetypal purpose.
Booker analyzes why evolution has given us the need to tell stories and illustrates how storytelling has provided a uniquely revealing mirror to mankind's psychological development over the past 5,000 years. This seminal book opens up in an entirely new way our understanding of the real purpose storytelling plays in our lives, and will be a talking point for years to come.
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- By Darwin8u on 02-11-18
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The Power of Myth: Programs 1-6
- By: Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers
- Narrated by: Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
- Original Recording
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An exhilarating journey into the mind and spirit of a remarkable man, a legendary teacher, and a masterful storyteller, conducted by TV journalist Bill Moyers for their acclaimed PBS series.
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A series that changed my life
- By Lucas on 10-03-09
By: Joseph Campbell, and others
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William Blake vs the World
- By: John Higgs
- Narrated by: John Higgs
- Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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A wild and unexpected journey through culture, science, philosophy, and religion to better understand the mercurial genius of William Blake.
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Best book ever
- By idamae on 11-04-22
By: John Higgs
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All Things Shining
- Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular World
- By: Hubert Dreyfus, Sean Dorrance Kelly
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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The religious turn to their faith to find meaning. But what about the many people who lead secular lives and are also hungry for meaning? What guides, what approaches are available to them? Distinguished philosophers Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly explain that a secular life charged with meaning is indeed within reach.
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Excellent Book that refreshes the classics
- By Tod on 06-14-11
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Becoming Faulkner
- The Art and Life of William Faulker
- By: Philip Weinstein
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
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William Faulkner was the greatest American novelist of the 20th century, yet he lived a life marked by a pervasive sense of failure. Throughout his career, he remained haunted by his inability to master a series of personal and professional challenges: his less-than-heroic military career; the loss of his brother in an airplane crash; a disappointing stint as a Hollywood screenwriter; and a destructive bout with alcoholism.
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Miss.'s BCS-Bundren.Compson.Snopes/Sutpen/Sartoris
- By W Perry Hall on 05-01-14
By: Philip Weinstein
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The Water of Life
- By: Michael Meade
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"One of the few places left to look for meaning in our contemporary culture is in story and myth," suggests Michael Meade. Weaving rhythm and words, this master storyteller, drummer, and scholar of mythology takes us on a compelling journey of self-discovery down the "roads of fire and water". Through two timeless stories - "The Spirit in the Bottle" and "The Water of Life" - we will learn how to relocate the spirit in our lives and awaken "the elder", an inner wisdom source.
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Michael Meade is magical, healing, real yet hopeful
- By Nancy LaPlaca on 11-14-17
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Natasha's Dance
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- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 29 hrs and 23 mins
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Beginning in the 18th century with the building of St. Petersburg - a 'window on the West' - and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself - its character, spiritual essence and destiny. He skillfully interweaves the great works - by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall - with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons and all the customs of daily life, from food and drink to bathing habits to beliefs about the spirit world.
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A Kaleidescopic panorama of an enigmatic culture.
- By Tarquin on 02-13-19
By: Orlando Figes
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The Devil Finds Work
- An Essay
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Baldwin's personal reflections on movies gathered here in a book-length essay are also a probing appraisal of American racial politics. Offering an incisive look at racism in American movies and a vision of America's self-delusions and deceptions, Baldwin challenges the underlying assumptions in such films as In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and The Exorcist.
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A Critical Masterpiece.
- By Ramon McGee on 05-10-18
By: James Baldwin
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Pandora's Jar
- Women in the Greek Myths
- By: Natalie Haynes
- Narrated by: Natalie Haynes
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
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The tellers of Greek myths—historically men—have routinely sidelined the female characters. When they do take a larger role, women are often portrayed as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil—like Pandora, the woman of eternal scorn and damnation whose curiosity is tasked with causing all the world’s suffering and wickedness when she opened that forbidden box. But, as Natalie Haynes reveals, in ancient Greek myths there was no box. It was a jar . . . which is far more likely to tip over.
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The Golden Age Continues
- By Stefan Filipovits on 03-29-22
By: Natalie Haynes
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At the Existentialist Café
- Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails
- By: Sarah Bakewell
- Narrated by: Antonia Beamish
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
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Paris, 1933: Three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called phenomenology. "You see," he says, "if you are a phenomenologist, you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!"
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Consistent look at incoherent philosophy
- By Gary on 06-19-16
By: Sarah Bakewell
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Primitive Mythology
- The Masks of God Series, Volume I
- By: Joseph Campbell, David Kudler - editor
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 19 hrs and 1 min
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The author of such acclaimed books as The Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth discusses the primitive roots of mythology, examining them in light of the most recent discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, and psychology.
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Epic speculation into the origins of our mythic consciousness
- By BGZ on 01-10-19
By: Joseph Campbell, and others
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What listeners say about The Seven Basic Plots
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Francisco
- 02-03-22
Entertaining every minute!
Compelling theory of storytelling explained through a fun run across hundreds titles and thousands of years. Spoiler alerts of course ; )
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- Wendy’s QC
- 02-20-20
So much more than a book about plots.
I was looking for deeper insight into story telling, but this author showed me story telling is not a simple topic to be understood without a full dive into history, psychology, science/nature and the ultimate questions in life. This is one of those books I wish everyone would read and I have no doubt it will play a role in humanity’s future. Wish I could meet Mr. Booker and thank him for what must have been an incomprehensible amount of work in bringing us this insight.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 11-18-19
Magnificent!
Interesting form, great insights on development trends, wise observations and bright, strong humor make this book absolutely fascinating. Thank you!
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- lindsay
- 01-20-20
Absolutely love
I like patterns, and this book is full of the patterns of our literature. Especially liked learning about hamlet and the epic of Gilgamesh. Neat. Easy listen.
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- Jason Como
- 03-04-23
Put in the work and it is worth it!
I have read many of the books he discusses. As a non-literary scholar who is just now learning it’s ok to read the same book multiple times, this book provides a framework for thinking about the stories famous and personal we tell. It is long but worth the time if you are always asking yourself after reading the classics, why?!
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- Chenner
- 10-10-23
Worth reading but ...
"Everyone is an hero in his/her book.” With this in mind, I would have given a four-star, but was only taken back by the last few chapters' narrow political views.
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- CHughes
- 08-24-19
Insightful but too long
I did enjoy the book but it went on and on and on and on. It could have been jut as effective if they had been more proficient in editing it down.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Martin M
- 05-10-19
Excellent!
Fantastic and brilliant. Content you won't find elsewhere. I enjoyed the narrator and thought he did an excellent job of bringing this wonderful book to life. Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Richard Ward
- 12-22-23
an interesting, if not too thorough diesection of plot.
the first 7 chapters were interesting. after that I really didn't need any more complete breakdowns of the plots of well known stories. especially not ones that had already been discussed. how many times does one think they can handle listening to the cliff notes on Cinderella? I don't know but I lost count and finally gave up on the listen after around thirty hours. this is the first audio book I didn't finish. the author could have really used a good editor.
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- curtcannon
- 08-29-23
Some interesting ideas but flawed analysis
The first part of the book (wherein the “7 plots” are discussed) was interesting. However, the book then goes into a very long winded discussion of what has “gone wrong” with storytelling over the past 200 years. The headline is that humans have become more ego centric and have (in his telling) explored storylines that depart from the classic “7 plots” in ways that reveal how many of their authors are unable to “grow up” - and usually have some disfuncional relationship with their mothers.
The historical analysis of this is flawed to say the least. Not least because the author has many examples of stories from the past 200 years that actually do fit the “primordial archetypes”. His casual dismissal of the movements for women’s suffrage, civil rights, and the end of colonialism as somehow emblematic of the age of egocentricity are downright appalling.
Also, this book should’ve been about 1/3 as long as it was.
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