ENG 152 Creative Writing- Writing with Attention, Spring 2004
Instructor- Pauline Escudero Shafer
Office Hours- 10:15-11 am and By arrangement M-F
Phone- 206-587-2036
Email- PEscudero@sccd.ctc.edu

Narrative as Meaning

Joseph Campbell was a preeminent comparative mythologist of our time. He initially wanted the book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, to mostly be a guide to reading myths. He had no idea how the book would come to have such a large impact on so many people. As a comparative mythologist Campbell saw how the challenging experiences undertaken by heros in mythic stories could be seen as initiatory adventures. He also recognized how these myths not only continued to hold meaning for people, but also served as guiding factors in teaching them how to live their lives in this day and age. It was this connection between ancient stories and the emotional concerns of modern life that was distinctive. As Campbell observed, "The latest incarnation of Oedipus, the continued romance of Beauty and the Beast, stand this afternoon on the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, waiting for the traffic light to change." Campbell believed that participation in ritual and narrative could put you into a direct experience of mythic reality.

Narrative as mythic experience

Much of this information I've included here was derived from Joseph Young's online writings about Campbell and his interactions with him. These and other writings about Campbell's work are available at:
The Center For Story and Symbol. At this site Gordon Legge in Mythical Stories Help Unravel Meaning of Life relays how myth and narrative impact our lives and how Campbell believed that, "Mythology allows us to reconnect with dimensions beyond ordinary time. In this moment in history, consumer values dominate the media. Ancient stories give us a chance to visit with eternal characters involved in primal adventures. This can provide perspectives that go beyond trendy concerns with possessions or appearance.”

Campbell's writings emphasize how stories, whether we encounter them in written form or through films, are one of the few places we experience ourselves with deeper meaning. There are many of us who go on to explore writing because we were so profoundly moved in our own reading or viewing experiences. When we read something like the Little Mermaid or The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson as a child, we were strongly moved and identified with the main character. Then later as we grew older, perhaps reading The Lord of the Rings we identified with the trials and difficulties the main characters. We applied that feeling to our own difficulties, recalling at times of stress how Bilbo or another character was able to draw upon unknown strength in times of adversity. We learned through models of imagined experience how to endure or how to do simplier things like love, even though we had no real life teachers or role models to show us. Stories are one of the few places where we experince thrpugh resonating identification our potential, our ability to transcend the mundane simplicities of our lives, to move beyond the limits of our day to day existances, to connect with times and eras that feel somehow truer.

So now as adults, we may have found ourselves wanting to participate in... to create in... this medium that has had a large impact on ourselves. We want to create words, images, characters, and scenarios that may have equal impact for someone else.

Questions to consider:

What do you think mythic reality is?
Have you ever experienced something like it?

To help begin this process of what stories we have within ourselves that want to 'be told', we first must learn who the players are.

Read Sylvia Plath's poems linked in the syllabus, then go on to look at the "Determining Your Archetypes" assignment.