“There’s a story I like to tell about a story Umberto Eco tells that tells us everything we need to know about story.”
Thus begins Anna Menendez in her excellent essay, The Future of Narrative, published in the May/June 2009 Poets & Writers. She begins by relating the gist of the Umberto Eco story mentioned above which involves the U.S. Department of Energy and forty thousand tons of nuclear waste. Assuming they were able to bury it somewhere, how would they communicate the danger of that hot garbage to future generations?
Linguist Thomas A. Sebeok was hired to solve that problem. For reasons that Ms. Menendez details, Sebeok suggested an Atomic Priesthood who would keep the warning of the deadly waste alive and understandable through the generations by means of fables. The legends would evolve with the language and culture.
What a great premise upon which to get across the importance of story!
Ms. Menendez will reference Socrates, Martin Luther, Nicholas Carr, Shakespeare and Homer as she instructs her readers on the silly concerns expressed by some as innovations appeared. The negative effects, real or imagined, were easily seen but the positives required the perspective of time to recognize.
Today, people are bemoaning the internet and the perceived (or real) probability that we will all become shallower readers. However, Anna Menendez believes that story will survive and then takes her readers to what she feels may be the next generation of raconteur. You may be one of them. You’ll have to read her essay to find out.
I wonder if some of these reality TV stars participants might fit that description. I don’t watch that John and Kate show but I’ve heard reports on TMZ and Access Hollywood that they are experiencing marital troubles. One wonders if they are staging this whole infidelity scenario in order to increase their audience.
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag may also be living out some fictional tale to get people to tune in to their current project. They may be continuing the tradition of storytelling that is as old as language. They’re not Shakespeare, of course, but no one said it is good storytelling.
-Thomas
