1, #28 - The death of storytelling?
1, #28 - The death of storytelling?
On the Limits of Minimalism — Estimated Read Time: 46 seconds.
Is the art of storytelling dying out?
This week, I read a fascinating essay that claims it is and blames an unlikely culprit: “If the art of storytelling has become rare, the dissemination of information has had a decisive share in this state of affairs.”
Yes, information. The writer argues that our fixation on impersonal, self-contained, urgent communication has replaced the traditional forms of storytelling, which are (by way of contrast) rooted in personal experience; useful, but not “shot through with explanation;” and capable of preserving wisdom through the ages, like “seeds of grain which have lain for centuries in the chambers of the pyramids shut up airtight and have retained their germinative power to this day.”
Here’s the twist: This essay was written in… 1938.
So, I’m glad that, 85 years later, rumors of storytelling’s death were somewhat exaggerated. But the warning is still apt: Raw information exchange lacks human connection. Even the best short, efficient, functional communication isn’t a substitute for what this essayist describes as the essential value of a story: the ability to exchange experiences.
Insight inspired by: The Storyteller, by Walter Benjamin. And ChatGPT, for including it when I asked, “What are the seminal works on the structure and impact of storytelling on humanity?”