"The Law of Stories", by Shi Aidong, Sanlian Bookstore, October 2021 edition.
Synopsis
The book treats all stories as a language game, and believes that every popular story is the best way to play in a specific language game, and those best paths chosen by the people become routines.
The three most important "rules of story" revealed in the "Law of Story" are: first, the story is not a life record, all stories are virtual language games between initial conditions and desire purposes; second, the characters and behaviors of the story are set by the storyteller, and this setting is subject to the rules of the game; third, the core driving force that drives the development of the plot is the "obstacle", the protagonist must encounter problems in the process of performing the task, and each problem must have a solution, in this sense, The story is the "solution".
Since the story is a problem-solving game, how are the rules of the game determined? Generally speaking, there are two kinds of game rules for stories, one is "general rules" and the other is "special rules".
General rules refer to the general rules of the game, for example, in animal stories, lions represent fierceness, foxes represent cunning, rabbits represent weakness; in magical stories, gods and immortals have superpowers, ghosts and dreams will be fulfilled, and the contents of the cornucopia will never be exhausted, and so on.
There is also a special rule, that is, the rules of the game tailored by the storyteller for this one story or a specific character in the story, for example, the Tang monk must go through ninety-nine eighty-one difficulties to obtain the true scriptures, the emperor limits the minister to hand over a male egg within three days, Luo Yinxiu is a "beggar body, holy will" person, everything can be fulfilled, Ding Busan stipulates that he cannot kill more than three people in a day, and so on.
Therefore, the folktale is a structurally stable combination of functions, a self-organizing system, a tree of life. Once the story begins its life course, it will grow on its own, graft itself, blossom on its own, bear its own fruit, and will also mutate with the change of time and space, and die with the increase of life entropy.
In the story, what kind of personality the hero has, what equipment is needed when he leaves his hometown, when the magic assistant will appear, why the traitor is always chaotic, why misunderstandings are always unavoidable, all plots have a relatively stable structure or routine, and all the routines are the optimal result of specific functions restricting each other.
The structure of the story is both stable and growing, and in the seemingly disordered growth, there is always some optimal configuration and optimal ending. A specific problem always corresponds to a specific way of solving the problem. Every popular folktale is the best way to play in a particular language game.
The Invention of the Chinese Dragon: Dragon Politics and The Image of China in the 16th and 20th Centuries
Contents
Introduction Synchronic Research Methods of Folk Literature
1. What is synchronic research?
2. What is morphological research?
3. What is story morphology?
4. What is oral programming theory?
V. Why does synchronic research exclude comprehensive research?
VI. Conclusion: The Relationship between Synchronic Studies and Diachronic Studies
Chapter 1: The Rules of the Game for the Ideal Story
First, the closed characteristics of the story
Second, the story ending: stable game objectives
Third, the simplest structure of the story
Fourth, the core setting to promote the development of the plot
Fifth, create barriers between initial conditions and stated objectives
6. General rules and characteristics of game settings
Seventh, break the norm and bring about a turning point
VIII. Conclusion: Ten points to understand the story
Chapter Two: How the Reunion Became the Meta-Ending
First, the fun of reunion
Second, not reunion is boring
Third, the criticism of the reunion by elite intellectuals
Fourth, there is no national nature, only secularity
Fifth, as the end of the game, the meta-ending
VI. Conclusion: The protagonist marries and is crowned king
Chapter Three: The Stability and Freedom of Folktales
1. Stories with the same title and their nodes
Second, the omission and loss of nodes
Third, the degree of freedom of attachment motifs
Fourth, the specific development of the story node
Fifth, the consequences of deviating from the node
Sixth, the function term is the minimum common multiple, and the node is the largest common divisor
Chapter Four: The Disordered Growth of Folk tales and Their Optimal Strategies
First, the information gap causes the plot to be missing
Second, the absence of tension, complementary disorderly growth
Third, the branch-end model of the story tree of life
Fourth, the competition criteria for the mainstream branches of the tree of life
Fifth, the mechanism of action of competitive criteria
Sixth, conclusion: there must be an optimal path between nodes
Chapter Five: Epic Sustainable Growth Mechanisms and Stacking Units
I. The State of Narration and the Raising of Questions in The Extant Epics of China
2. The setting of the initial conditions of the epic speech
Third, the sustainable growth mechanism of the epic structure
Fourth, back to the original point: the algorithm of the superposition unit
Fifth, the identification of superimposed units and related structural theories
6. Reasons for choosing the Ramayana
VII. The plot backbone of "Battle Chapter"
VIII. A special case of the "Battle Chapter" superposition unit
IX. All superimposed units of "Battle Chapter"
10. The structural model of "Battle Chapter"
11. Explain the problems of epic narration in superimposed units
Extension of Explanatory Power: Superimposed Units in Classical Fiction
Chapter Six: The Influence of Epic Hero Shaping on Wuxia Fiction
First, the similarity between heroic epics and martial arts novels
Second, the narrative elements and functions of epic heroes and novel heroes
Third, the folk taste of the extraneous branches
Fourth, the old bottle of new wine, the new story of the old place
Chapter Seven: The Contrasting Patterns of Good and Evil in hero image shaping
Two lives born of one or two kinds of soil
Second, the contrast between simple human nature and clever human nature
Third, the comparison of different historical memories
Limited variation of the sibling control model
Chapter Eight: The "Sister-in-Law Killing" Model in hero image shaping
First, being close to women is not the business of a good man
Second, beautiful people, the root of trouble
Third, heroes make mistakes, and "good wine" is a substitute for "lust"
Fourth, the evolution from "killing the family with righteousness" to "hero killing the sister-in-law"
Fifth, the choice between "marriage" and "righteousness"
VI. From "Letter of Submission" to "Sister-in-Law Killing Ceremony"
Seventh, Jin Yong's borrowing of the story of killing his sister-in-law
VIII. The Continuation of Traditional Themes in novels
Limited Variation: Jin Yong's Narrative Improvement
Chapter Nine: The Image of the Moon Palace in the Tang Dynasty under the Five Elements Thinking
I. Tang Poetry Five Elements Thinking and Luna Western Metallicity
Second, the scene of Tang Xuanzong sleepwalking in the Moon Palace
Third, the elements of the moon palace of the poet's imagination
Cultural Criticism of the Folklore Position
About the Author
Recent photo by the author
Shi Aidong is a researcher at the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the vice president and secretary general of the Chinese Folklore Society. Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts, Ph.D., successively worked in the Department of Chinese of Sun Yat-sen University, the Postdoctoral Workstation of the College of Literature of Beijing Normal University, and the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. His research interests include storytelling, rumors, and the history of folklore. His representative works include: "The Law of Stories", "Cultural Criticism of folklore positions", "The Invention of the Chinese Dragon: Dragon Politics and Chinese Image in the 16th-19th Centuries", "Advocating a New Discipline - The Advocacy, Management and Fall of Modern Chinese Folklore", "Review of Modern Chinese Folklore", etc.
"Advocating a New Discipline and the Promotion, Management and Fall of Modern Chinese Folklore"