Kurt Vonnegut Diagrams the Shape of All Stories in a Master’s Thesis Rejected by U. Chicago http://t.co/fR6hONE0sB pic.twitter.com/ZTLqT4xmSJ
— Open Culture (@openculture) June 24, 2014
A scan through Dr M’s feed led to the above.
As it is Story week here at the trailer I thought I had better investigate. What a lovely surprise.
Kurt Vonnegut’s thesis was rejected at his university because it was too simple and too much fun….well, you all know what this shrink has to say to those people who fail to see the space between silly and serious – they are self-important nincompoops who are missing the point of life!
His idea was simple and profound. Open Culture say:
The idea is so simple, in fact, that Vonnegut sums the whole thing up in one elegant sentence: “The fundamental idea is that stories have shapes which can be drawn on graph paper, and that the shape of a given society’s stories is at least as interesting as the shape of its pots or spearheads.”
if you are one of those soon to be digitally literate Burgerons who likes to be the best in class then check out the article. It is full of lots of resources to learn more about how the shape of stories is like the shape of pots.
Hope you are all enjoying the first week of Bovine DS106!
