The Narrative Instinct

Sometimes you see something, in an unexpected place, some little, passing idea, that makes one more piece of the cosmic puzzle fall into place. Perhaps it will mean nothing to you, but for me, it is a critical piece of understanding both the universe and my own nature.

The New Yorker: FAR FROM NARNIA: "The day we sat down at the Eagle and Child, Pullman told me about a speech he had delivered in May, 2004, at a colloquium on science, literature, and human nature. In the speech, he speculated on the possible origins of this "very clear and strong" sense he has that there is, inherently, "a right shape and a wrong shape" for any given story. Where do these shapes come from, and how can he recognize them with such certainty? Not surprisingly, Pullman rejects the notion that he's receiving direction from some "higher power" when he apprehends that the story he's working on is either whole or broken. His certainty might be a sophisticated form of cultural conditioning, he supposes, or simply the gift of experience. Because Pullman is an admirer of "The Language Instinct," the book by the evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker, I suggested that, if linguistic grammar is hardwired, perhaps a grammar of narrative is, too. "I don't think that's implausible, but we just don't know," he said."

If you don't know Pinker, get yourself directly over to your local library, better yet to amazon.com and load up, starting with "How The Mind Works" and yes, "The Language Instinct." Oh, and don't forget, "The Blank Slate," where Pinker postulates that we may also have built in modules for ethics as well, centered on the key concept of fairness.

Do we sense the shape of a tale? Do we know a bad story from a good? Damn straight we do! And I don't believe it's just a matter of conditioning. Humans are story tellers and hunger equally for a good tale. And we know when a story is rightly told. Mr. Pullman does indeed know this, the part of telling a good story, that is. We'll have to leave it to Mr. Pinker to ferret out the actual hardware for making it all work.

Thanks to Hedwig for pointing out this excellent article.

his dark materials, new yorker, steven pinker