Stories are all around us. The history of the human race is built upon layers and layers of story. This is, after all, what makes the human experience very different from other living creatures. Connected to this is our ability to find lessons and pick up meaning in the most mundane of stories. It doesn’t matter if it is a story told by the older man in the corner or if it is a book about an airline pilot. If someone can relate to that story, it will mean something to that person for the rest of their life. Such is the joy and beauty of the human experience.
The Need for Story Telling
Human beings are generally social animals. The first-ever stories were told because our ancestors needed to tell their stories in a narrative form. The first of these stories probably happened over some campfire sessions wherein the members of a tribe were sharing among one another how their day. One possible explanation is that these ancestors were bragging about their exploits and heroism for the day. Others might have been warning their companions about the dangers they faced that day so that their companions might avoid the same fates that they experienced. Whatever the reason may be, stories were first and foremost a bonding tool for our earlier ancestors as a way to express themselves, a way to bond with others, and even a way to serve as a warning to others about the dangers they encountered.
Oral and Written Tradition
Stories have been told for as long as we are telling them, and throughout this history, two traditions came into view as the primary way of sharing and telling stories: the oral and written traditions. Among the two, the oral tradition came first, with some thinking that it evolved along with the evolution of human languages.
Oral Storytelling
Oral storytelling is probably the more intimate of the forms of stories. In oral storytelling, the audience and the storyteller might be physically close in order for them to hear each other. Some of the more common formations would be that the storyteller is surrounded by the audience seated in a circular shape. Sometimes, the storyteller is even seated among the audience. In the telling of the stories, the storytellers might begin to add their own personalities and traits, and as such, the storytelling sessions will become a performance of their own. There are many ways a storyteller can proceed with his or her story. He might perform it in a straightforward manner, like an average story. Some storytellers opt to tell their tales in the form of lyrical prose or poems. Still, others tell their stories through singing, and others combine it with a dance, making it a full-on performance.
Written Storytelling
Just as with oral storytelling, written stories have existed for as long as the written word has. As such, the traditions of written stories of a particular place will depend on the development of their written system. The oldest piece of story ever written is the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem that was written in cuneiform on a clay tablet. Literature, which is defined as a collection of written work, only advanced as writing systems developed. Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the movable type gave had a profound effect on the advancement of written storytelling as it allowed printed works to be produced more accessible and faster. Before that, written copies of books and manuscripts were only usually owned by churches and nobles. With his invention, he allowed for the mass production of books, making them cheaper for the public, and soon, reading as a pastime became the norm.
Storytelling is part of the human experience. In fact, some could argue that it is the human experience. After all, the lives of people are just but one story after another. Stories are also windows to alternate universes or worlds that exist only in fantasy. These stories serve as a window and a mirror to the human experience for fantastical stories. In the most profound sense, life is just one big story, and it is up to us to choose how we tell them. How we make our stories end is really up to us.
Alex Writes 