An in-depth philosophical and technical treatise on creative writing, integrating a wide range of classic theories from antiquity to the present, covering: storytelling, story structure, cultural norms, mythology, and mystical philosophy. Logically and intuitively based ideas are smoothly integrated in this hands-on guide, made accessible to the novice through entertaining vignettes, yet remaining challenging to the seasoned professional with thought provoking scholarship.

Universal Grammar of Story: THE WORKBOOK is the companion study guide for the main text: The Universal Grammar of Story: An Author's Guide to Writing for the Soul of the World. This workbook provides practical support for story writing with worksheets, templates, study questions, individual exercises, advanced exercises, and direction for conducting literary salons. Suitable for textbook adoption.

An in-depth philosophical and technical treatise on creative writing, integrating a wide range of classic theories from antiquity to the present, covering storytelling, story structure, cultural norms, mythology, and mystical philosophy. Logically and intuitively based ideas are smoothly integrated in this hands-on guide, made accessible to the novice through entertaining memoir moments from the author's most unusual life, yet remaining challenging to the seasoned professional with thought provoking scholarship. Re-titled reprint of The Universal Grammar of Story: An Author's Guide to Writing for the Soul of the World.

A provocative scholar delivers the first book on the new science of storytelling: the latest thinking on why we tell stories and what stories reveal about human nature.

Instruction book (only) for Universal Grammar of Story Game of Practical Exercises for Writers. This game guides writers in developing stories using the mythopoetic writing method known as Universal Grammar of Story, building from the main text Universal Grammar of Story: An Author's Guide to Writing for the Soul of the World, and the companion workbook. Players use thought-provoking moves to create entirely new stories, bring clarity and form to vague story ideas, or break through writers' block with work in progress. The game allows for players to keep total control of a story with a strategic approach or to leave much to chance with the spin of a wheel. Levels of difficulty range from simple play to exceptional challenge carried out amid intense chaos.

Storytelling, a tradition that built human civilization, may soon destroy it Humans are storytelling animals. Stories are what make our societies possible. Countless books celebrate their virtues. But Jonathan Gottschall, an expert on the science of stories, argues that there is a dark side to storytelling we can no longer ignore. Storytelling, the very tradition that built human civilization, may be the thing that destroys it. In The Story Paradox, Gottschall explores how a broad consortium of psychologists, communications specialists, neuroscientists, and literary quants are using the scientific method to study how stories affect our brains. The results challenge the idea that storytelling is an obvious force for good in human life. Yes, storytelling can bind groups together, but it is also the main force dragging people apart. And it’s the best method we’ve ever devised for manipulating each other by circumventing rational thought. Behind all civilization’s greatest ills—environmental destruction, runaway demagogues, warfare—you will always find the same master factor: a mind-disordering story. Gottschall argues that societies succeed or fail depending on how they manage these tensions. And it has only become harder, as new technologies that amplify the effects of disinformation campaigns, conspiracy theories, and fake news make separating fact from fiction nearly impossible. With clarity and conviction, Gottschall reveals why our biggest asset has become our greatest threat, and what, if anything, can be done. It is a call to stop asking, “How we can change the world through stories?” and start asking, “How can we save the world from stories?”

In a major rethinking of the functions, methods, and aims of narrative poetics, David Herman exposes important links between modernist and postmodernist literary experimentation and contemporary language theory. Ultimately a search for new tools for narrative theory, his work clarifies complex connections between science and art, theory and culture, and philosophical analysis and narrative discourse. Following an extensive historical overview of theories about universal grammar, Herman examines Joyce's Ulysses, Kafka's The Trial, and Woolf's Between the Acts as case studies of modernist literary narratives that encode grammatical principles which were (re)fashioned in logic, linguistics, and philosophy during the same period. Herman then uses the interpretation of universal grammar developed via these modernist texts to explore later twentieth-century cultural phenomena. The problem of citation in the discourses of postmodernism, for example, is discussed with reference to syntactic theory. An analysis of Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover raises the question of cinematic meaning and draws on semantic theory. In each case, Herman shows how postmodern narratives encode ideas at work in current theories about the nature and function of language. Outlining new directions for the study of language in literature, Universal Grammar and Narrative Form provides a wealth of information about key literary, linguistic, and philosophical trends in the twentieth century.