The return of story
I recently wrote an essay about Henry James’ The American. I wrote the essay for a class, during which the bulk of what we discussed is the way Jame’s narration starts with a “germ” character, and goes on from there to develop a type, and then…
Then, I found this very interesting quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is a favorite of mine.
“Begin with an individual, and before you know it you find that you have created a type; begin with a type, and you find that you have created - nothing.
The article is a review of Christopher Booker’s thoughts on the nature of narrative, titled The Seven Basic Plots , but I was interested in the thoughts about Fitzgerald, and I wish I had found the quote during the compositon of my paper.
What I like about this kind of review is that it is a departure from the ideas in the book it considers. It is not a summary of those ideas.