English 5522 - Literary Theory and Criticism
Aristotle and Modern Culture
I am exploring from the angle of a creative writer. It seems that much of what Aristotle proposes as proper form for the successful poet is alive and well today. I am interested particularly in the tradition of "tragedy" as defined by Aristole in Poetics, and how it relates to modern-day screenplay writing, novel making, and short story construction. There are a number of obvious do's and dont's in these diversified fields, but it seems Aristotle is in many ways the glue that holds them all together.
What is important to the telling of a story? There should be a beginning, middle and end. Aristotle makes a subtle point that plot cannot start in the middle, but rather, there should be a specific place from where the story takes off. In the same way movies and novels, for example, may begin en media res, or "in the middle of things," but the plot is constructed from beginning to end so that the audience experiences the character's struggle. The prescribed length for plot is ambiguous, according to Aristotle. Just as the length of the piece may reflect the magnitude of the plot (which is much desired in any successful work), the brevity of the piece similarly speaks to the clarity of the plot.
Thus, books and movies that offer a grandiose and complex plot within a brief time period are often hailed as successes. I suppose that time was just as much an important matter of consideration in Aristotle's time as it is today. For although in the 21st Century we seem to be busier than ever, the ancient Greeks also had better things to do than to sit at the theater all day long. So Aristotle's prescription seems worthy in our time when he states: "the larger the plot is, the finer . . . so long as the whole is still clear" (Leitch 97). If it takes much longer than three hours to tell a story in the movie, the clarity of the plot may be suspect.
I appreciate what Poetics says regarding "probability or necessity" (Leitch 90). In these days it is important to write about what could happen instead of what has already occurred. This could even entail writing the impossible. As long as a story has a probable sequence of events within the parameters established then the science of probability remains intact. For instance, if a writer's story takes place on a space-age farm, it might be probable that chickens lay mercurial eggs. If the story is set in the days of Noah, the writer should not allow the giraffes to enter the ark in threes.
I appreciate the ground that Aristotle has covered in his brief but explorative authority on the Poetics. Time and time again I see the utilization of his criteria in use at the university, between the covers of books, and on the silver screen. If something lasts as long as Aristotle's instruction, it must have worth for the time to come.