In our modern world, this elemental quality of storytelling is denied. We live today in a world in which everything has its place and function and nothing is left out of place. Storytelling is thus at a discount and like everything else in a world ruled by the laws of exchange value, literature is required to submit itself to the requirements of the market and must learn, like any other commodity, to adapt and serve needs that lie outside of itself and its concrete value. It is forced to stand not for itself but for an ideological cause of one sort or another, whether it be political, social or literary. It cannot exist for itself: like everything else it has to be justified. And for this very reason the power of storytelling is automatically devalued. Literature is reduced to the status of complimentary utilitarian functions: as a pastime to provide distraction and entertainment, or as a heightened activity that would claim to explore 'great truths' about the human condition. .Michael Richardson
About This Quote
This quote captures the essence of the quality we call storytelling. By denying this quality, we devalue it altogether. Instead, we live in a world in which everything has its place and function and nothing is left out of place. This quote also shows how the modern world devalues storytelling by understanding it as a pastime and entertainment. We understand it as a heightened activity that would claim to explore "great truths" about the human condition.
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More Quotes By Michael Richardson
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