As you will all probably know we have just completed the running of three
courses for the NeLH Librarian Development Programme under the banner FOLIO.
The courses have covered Project Management, Evaluating Your Service and
Evidence Based Librarianship. Over 600 librarians have participated in one
or more of these three courses.
Although the courses have been hard work (for all involved!)they have had
their lighter moments. One such moment was in Course 2 when participants
were given the chance of a "trivial pursuit" to track down the origins of
the apocryphal statement that all the world's literature could be summed up
by half-a-dozen or so story lines. The winning entry was from:
Jane Smethurst
Library
Postgraduate Medical Centre
Pontefract General Infirmary
Pontefract W Yorks
WF8 1PL
[log in to unmask]
and is reproduced below. We particularly liked her claim that she had
witnessed all these in her library - so we shall all be around to Pontefract
shortly! A book token is winging its way as we speak. Of course the above
will merely confirm the impression that I have "lost the plot!"
Could I take this opportunity to thank all those who have participated in
any of the FOLIO courses. It has been great fun (hospitalisation aside!). We
are hoping to get certificates out to the "survivors" sometime during July.
Regards
Andrew Booth
"In the spirit of the Folio project I went to the Internet Public Library to
answer the question.
The attachment gives details of many plot theories. I think I have seen them
all acted out in our library. They will provide good themes for the novels
wot I will pen when I retire.
Jane "
The "Basic" Plots in Literature
Example Questions That Can Be Answered Using This FARQ ·
I've heard there are only 7 (or 5, 20, 36, 37...) basic plots (or themes) in
all of literature. What are they?
People often say that there are only a certain number of basic plots in all
of literature, and that any story is really just a variation on these plots.
Depending on how detailed they want to make a "basic" plot, different
writers have offered a variety of solutions. Here are some of the ones we've
found: 1 Plot | 3 Plots | 7 Plots | 20 Plots | 36 (or 37) Plots
1 Plot:
Attempts to find the number of basic plots in literature cannot be resolved
any more tightly than to describe a single basic plot. Foster-Harris claims
that all plots stem from conflict. He describes this in terms of what the
main character feels: "I have an inner conflict of emotions, feelings....
What, in any case, can I do to resolve the inner problems?" (p. 30-31) This
is in accord with the canonical view that the basic elements of plot revolve
around a problem dealt with in sequence: "Exposition - Rising Action -
Climax - Falling Action - Denouement". (Such description of plot can be
found in many places, including: Holman, C. Hugh and William Harmon. A
Handbook to Literature. 6th ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co, 1992.)
Foster-Harris' main argument is for 3 Plots (which are contained within this
one), described below. 3 Plots:Foster-Harris. The Basic Patterns of Plot.
Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959. Foster-Harris contends that
there are three basic patterns of plot (p. 66): 1. "'Type A, happy ending'";
Foster-Harris argues that the "Type A" pattern results when the central
character (which he calls the "I-nitial" character) makes a sacrifice (a
decision that seems logically "wrong") for the sake of another. 2. "'Type B,
unhappy ending'"; this pattern follows when the "I-nitial" character does
what seems logically "right" and thus fails to make the needed sacrifice. 3.
"'Type C,' the literary plot, in which, no matter whether we start from the
happy or the unhappy fork, proceeding backwards we arrive inevitably at the
question, where we stop to wail." This pattern requires more explanation
(Foster-Harris devotes a chapter to the literary plot.) In short, the
"literary plot" is one that does not hinge upon decision, but fate; in it,
the critical event takes place at the beginning of the story rather than the
end. What follows from that event is inevitable, often tragedy. (This in
fact coincides with the classical Greek notion of tragedy, which is that
such events are fated and inexorable.)
7 Plots
7 basic plots as remembered from second grade by IPL volunteer librarian
Jessamyn West:
1. [wo]man vs. nature
2. [wo]man vs. man
3. [wo]man vs. the environment
4. [wo]man vs. machines/technology
5. [wo]man vs. the supernatural
6. [wo]man vs. self
7. [wo]man vs. god/religion
20 Plots:
Tobias, Ronald B. 20 Master Plots. Cincinnati: Writer's Digest Books, 1993.
(ISBN 0-89879-595-8) This book proposes twenty basic plots: 1. Quest 2.
Adventure 3. Pursuit 4. Rescue 5. Escape 6. Revenge 7. The Riddle 8. Rivalry
9. Underdog 10. Temptation 11. Metamorphosis 12. Transformation 13.
Maturation 14. Love 15. Forbidden Love 16. Sacrifice 17. Discovery 18.
Wretched Excess 19. Ascension 20. Descension.
36 (or 37) Plots
Polti, Georges. The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations. trans. Lucille Ray.
Polti claims to be trying to reconstruct the 36 plots that Goethe alleges
someone named [Carlo] Gozzi came up with. In the following list, the words
in parentheses are our annotations to try to explain some of the less
helpful titles): More complete details of this schema can be found in the
Stumpers-L archive at:
http://www.ipl.org/cgi-bin/common/redirect?gopher://gopher.cuis.edu:70/0R230
0474-2326630-gopher_root%3A%5Bsearchidx%5Dstumpers-l_1999-02.txt
1. Supplication (in which the Supplicant must beg something from Power in
authority) 2. Deliverance 3. Crime Pursued by Vengeance 4. Vengeance taken
for kindred upon kindred 5. Pursuit 6. Disaster 7. Falling Prey to Cruelty
of Misfortune 8. Revolt 9. Daring Enterprise 10. Abduction 11. The Enigma
(temptation or a riddle) 12. Obtaining 13. Enmity of Kinsmen 14. Rivalry of
Kinsmen 15. Murderous Adultery 16. Madness 17. Fatal Imprudence 18.
Involuntary Crimes of Love (example: discovery that one has married one's
mother, sister, etc.) 19. Slaying of a Kinsman Unrecognized 20.
Self-Sacrificing for an Ideal 21. Self-Sacrifice for Kindred 22. All
Sacrificed for Passion 23. Necessity of Sacrificing Loved Ones 24. Rivalry
of Superior and Inferior 25. Adultery 26. Crimes of Love 27. Discovery of
the Dishonor of a Loved One 28. Obstacles to Love 29. An Enemy Loved 30.
Ambition 31. Conflict with a God 32. Mistaken Jealousy 33. Erroneous
Judgement 34. Remorse 35. Recovery of a Lost One 36. Loss of Loved Ones. 37.
[Optional, see below]: Mistaken Identity
Note on #37: This 37th situation is not listed in Polti's book, but appears
in the (uncited) detailed listing in the Stumpers archive. The person who
posted the Stumpers contribution did not have a citation for it; someone
must have added it to Polti's list somewhere along the way.
This page was last modified on 28 Jul 2000.
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