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The Michael Shermer Show

177. Angus Fletcher — 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4921 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2021

⏱️ 113 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Michael speaks with neuroscientist and literature professor Dr. Angus Fletcher about 25 of the most powerful developments in the history of literature, from ancient Mesopotamia to Elena Ferrante. Fletcher says these literary technologies can alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui — all while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change. Fletcher is a professor of story science at Ohio State’s Project Narrative, the world’s leading academic think-tank for the study of stories. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to the Michael Sherman Show.

0:09.7

Angus Fletcher, his new book is Wonder Works, the 25 most powerful inventions in the history of literature.

0:18.3

Angus is a professor at Ohio State University's project narrative,

0:24.0

the world's leading academic think tank for the study of stories.

0:27.5

He has dual degrees in neuroscience and literature,

0:30.5

received his PhD from Yale, taught Shakespeare at Stanford, and has published two books and dozens of peer-reviewed academic articles on the scientific workings of novels, poetry, film, and theater.

0:41.0

His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation,

0:46.6

and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

0:50.4

He's done story consulting for projects for Sony, Disney, the BBC, Amazon, PBS, and NBC

0:56.2

Universal and is the author presenter of the Audible Great Courses Guide to Screenwriting.

1:02.4

This is a fascinating conversation, I knew nothing about literature, next to nothing about literature,

1:08.4

and much less how it's a kind of experiment and how the purpose of trying different things and inventing new

1:16.8

techniques has improved literature. That is to say there's progress in storytelling. And so that's what his book is about so we we

1:25.3

cover all the great topics here on the difference between empirical truths and say

1:29.3

literary truths or mythic truths what is the purpose of myths and stories and how they differ from

1:35.4

empirical truths? We talk a lot about Joseph Campbell and his book, The Hero

1:41.2

with a Thousand Faces and that the kind of Hero's Journey story that comes up over and over and

1:45.8

people think it's much deeper than he thinks it is so we'll see about that.

1:49.7

What do you think about that?

1:50.6

We talk about the Epic of Gilgamesh and Noaki and flood story virgin birth stories

1:54.9

resurrection stories and myths why they keep coming up over and over

1:59.1

we talk about young and and archetypes he's skeptical of those. We talk about the day the earth stood still

...

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