It has been said for some time that the narrative seeks new evolutions. That literature is dead, then, even more. But the stories, after all, have always existed and have never changed that much.
The storytelling animal of Jonathan Gottschall he tries to explain it in an "evolutionary" key. Translated in Italy with the title The instinct to narrate. How stories made us human, the volume makes the narration a function linked to the survival and adaptation of the species to the environment. Human life, especially social life, is something quite complex: fiction allows the brain to practice.
But fiction also serves to construct meanings and worldviews. The human mind is constantly looking for meaningful patterns. If we give a person random information, which doesn't fit into any pattern, that person will have a very limited ability not to weave it into a story.
The ultimate expression of narrative's dominion over our minds is found in religions. They have established themselves as stable components of all human societies for a very simple reason: they make them function better. The same hypothesis can be easily adapted to all fiction: stories have an eminently social and ethical function. Various studies have shown that individuals' deepest moral beliefs and values are modified by the fictional fiction they consume. And it is certainly no coincidence that - again according to scholars - strong readers of fiction have better social skills than those who mainly read non-fiction.
In short, Gottschall's is a very convincing “story”. Even if, at times, the interpretation appears stagnated on nineteenth-century and positivist categories. A very fascinating and stimulating reading, which would perhaps require some updating.
“The instinct to narrate. How stories made us human "by Jonathan Gottschall (Bollati Boringhieri, pp. 255, 22 euro)
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