Plot

The Critical Idiom

by Elizabeth Dipple

First published in 1970, this work examines ‘Plot’ as a literary term. It traces the two and contrary ways of considering the the Aristotelian and the neo-classic interpretations. It then goes on to examine the methods by which the idea of plot has been expanded in modern criticism through a proliferation of critical terms clustering around a vital idea of poiesis , and through the development of time theories, both literary and philosophical, which describe the action of creation. In doing so, the book leads the reader from the standard definition of plot as a hackneyed mechanical term to its enormous possibilities as both a definition and an action.

90 pages, ebook

First published December 1, 1970

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes even the most turgid tedious books contain a little gem of information, and this one told me that at the age of 75, Leo Tolstoy re-read ALL of Shakespeare's plays simply in order to confirm his personal opinion that Shakespeare was an awful, terrible writer! All his life he had been baffled by everybody and his uncle raving on about Shakespeare when he, Count Tolstoy, knew - KNEW - that Willie the Shake was a fraudster, a jackanape, a mangler of language and a thief of tales, the worst writer in all of history. Now here he is in his old age thinking well, I dunno, maybe, just maybe everybody is right and I am wrong.... So he re-read the whole lot again and found that in fact he was SO RIGHT!

the works of Shakespeare - borrowed as they are and externally, like mosaics, artificially fitted together piecemeal from bits invented for the occasion - have nothing whatever in common with art and poetry.

I'm thinking that being 75 in Russia in 1903 is the equivalent of being around 110 nowadays and I don't know any 110 year olds who would read through all of Shakespeare to prove a crackbrained theory, so big respect to the Count just for all that crazy reading.

Although the idea of plot in fiction is very interesting - why is there, frinstance, such a polarisation between Art (James Joyce, Faulkner, Infinite Jest - all that plotless maximalisation) and Commerce (soap operas, fantasy epics, Dan Brown - where telling a rattling good story is (Stephen) King) I cannot recommend the other 67 pages of this little book unless you are hot to read about mimesis, poesis, Kierkegaaaaard, Sir Philip Sydney, and a whole lot of other terminal dullards. Somebody needed to have spiked Elizabeth Dipple's tea with LSD. That's what they used to do in 1970 I think?

[Alireza Aghaee · Rating 3 out of 5]

چون به عنوان یه شروع میتونه خوب باشه دوستش داشتم. دقیقا همون نقطه‌ای که من الان هستم توی حیطه پیرنگ. منظورم از اینکه برای شروع میتونه خوب باشه هم اینکه هم توی اصطلاح ها و بخش‌هایی که توی این بحث وجود دارند میتونه یه نقطه آغاز باشه و هم توی مراحل بعدی چون منبع خوبی هست از بابت ارجاع به کتاب‌ها جنبش‌های مرتبط.

[Amin · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب برای کسانی است که میخواهند در مورد طرح اصلی داستان و پیرنگ و جزئیات آن بخصوص کشمکش و همچنین انواع پیرنگ در طول تاریخ که از زمان ارسطو مهم بوده تا قرن ۱۸ که در ایتالیا بی ارزش بوده و نویسندگان داستان های خود را بدون پیرنگ می نوشتند!
اگر زیاد نمیخواهید در موردش بدونید و یه توضیحات کلی در موردش بدونید همون کتاب عناصر داستان میرصادقی بهترین منبع هست!
نمره هم ۴ دادم بخاطر اینکه پیرنگ رو در طول تاریخ بخوبی توضیح و بررسی کرده.

[Amir · Rating 3 out of 5]

پیرنگ رو بیش‌تر تاریخی بررسی می‌کنه.

[Hayat Buda · Rating 3 out of 5]

این کتاب برای من پیچیده بود. به جای این که در این کتاب روی واژه پیرنگ و موارد استفاده آن را در داستان بازگو کند. بیشتر سیر تاریخی آن را بررسی کرده است.