Human culture began with the creation of language and took root in narration. From their assertions, insights, and desires, human beings crafted, with art and skill, a chariot called “the tale.” Gifted artists adorned some tales with “poetry.” While the tale touched the heart, poetry gave language a resonant vibrancy.
People committed them to memory, passing them down from generation to generation and voice to voice, guiding them through the turbulence of history and geography. Like fragments of rock torn from a mountain by wind and rain, these narratives were polished in the river of time, smoothing into pebbles called “myths” that reached distant eras and lands.
To the people, myths possessed the power of alchemy and magic, becoming a source for the birth and nurturing of ideas. This flow, as constant as nature itself, continued until society transitioned from the agrarian age to the industrial world. The tale could no longer contain the complex messages of modern life. The Renaissance arrived. Humanity, pregnant with tale and myth, gave birth to the “story” and, subsequently, the “novel.”
Tale, myth, story, and novel are different forms of a single movement**, much like** the cart, carriage, automobile, and spacecraft are diverse tools of travel. Just as the tale provided solace and myth offered inspiration through the rhythm of poetry, the story accelerated social progress a hundredfold.
Modern storytelling took root in the West, earning a distinguished place in European and North American education. Weak rulers, fearing the exposure of their true nature, allowed tale and poetry to flourish, yet kept society away from the “story.” Ali Rad, author of the novel Love in Crisis, considers the knowledge of story to be the foundation of today’s needs and has introduced the neologism “Storyology.”
