The human race has long been interested in stories, in fact stories existed before we had a way to write them down. Poems were composed by bards, to tell stories that were considered so worth of passing on they were memorized in verse. We often think the modern day we live in as the epitome of literature, but in reality the fiction writers, the science fiction and even the fantasy we read today have their inspirations long ago in the ancient world. These early writers were in fact patriarchs of a tradition of story telling that we are the heirs of. This is just the beginning of the tale written for writers, readers of good stories and students of how the world works.
The Patriarchs of Story is obviously not something these writers would have ever heard of, it is merely a way to express an idea that connects these great literary figures who span the length of time. These men (and sometimes women) are the great writers whose work has influenced generation after generation of their successors and have changed the way we all think. Today, if there had been no J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis the Fantasy genre would be dramatically different. On that same token however, if Tolkien had never read Beowulf and the Viking Sagas and some of the other works he read; his writings would have been totally different. The Patriarchs of Story are the writers whose work have changed the way we think about writing and the way we think about our world. The amazing thing about this is that we do not even have to have read their works, because these influential writers so changed their world that the trickle down effect influences even those who do not read them.
Surely you have heard of Achilles right? Well you have been influenced by Homer. Are you familiar with the Three Musketeers? Then your world has been changed by the French author, Alexander Dumas. Finally have you heard of Leonidas the King of Sparta? If you have then you been influenced by Herodotus, a Greek writer who lived around 2,500 years ago. Do you think these guys were thinking about writing to audiences thousands of years in the future? Of course not, but that is the glory of stories. People who lived long ago can live on in our hearts and minds as long as we appreciate and value their words.
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| Patriarchs don't always look like this, this isn't some sort of religious thing! |
Now, to be clear from the start, a "story" does not imply true or false. It is not a judgment on their credibility, but an appreciation of what the writer was trying to tell us. For instance, in war there are always two sides and just because one side sees it one way, does not mean the other is wrong. Also in religion, it is impossible to say that all mythology can be true, because of the vast amounts of inconsistencies, but both of these types of stories tell us about the people who came up with them. We know the people who wrote about traveling to the Elysium Fields after they died, believed in an afterlife.
Finally there is the question of quality. Can we really say that these stories by authors of long ago can hold a candle to our modern writing techniques and vast amounts of knowledge? Please do not fall victim to the idea that people of long ago have nothing to contribute to the discussions we have about life. There stories are in fact so good, that often the very stories we love the most are based upon the works of these Patriarchs of Story. These intellectual giants have changed every generation who has read them, dared us all to think and to dream.
Writers, if you want to write, do not deprive yourself of reading these towering figures who stood before you and willingly guide us. Readers, pass up these rich resources only at your own peril; and students of our world, remember that even though the world of thousands of years ago and today seem so distant and foreign...people do not change and you will always see the same motivations driving humans from the dawn of time until its finale.
This is what it means to be a Patriarch of Story....
-Jason
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