Dang, Good Question

(An Interactive) Office Hours

Every now and then I open my Story Club email account and get an Office Hours question that, instead of causing some clever answer to leap into my head, which I immediately sit down and write up, makes me go: “Dang, that’s good. That is…that is exactly the question we should all be asking of ourselves, every day.”

I got one like this today and I thought that, before I take a run at it (or maybe instead of that) I’d throw it to the group.

Here it is:

Q.

Hello George,

If this question can possibly be considered for Office Hours I think we would all benefit, and I hope it will be.  However because I find myself in need of insights to this query fairly soon, I'm hoping that in addition to considering this for a future office hours question, you might be able to refer me to any existing source for insights.  I imagine, knowing your work as I do, that you might have some favorite and recommended sources for the simple question posed below. If not, thank you for your time anyway, and for SC in general.

I should add that you may have perhaps addressed this or a similar question in a past office hours, though I don't recall it.

And now, the question (drum roll?):

What is the purpose/utility of stories in our culture today?

Yes, seriously, that's the whole question.  

Unnecessary background is that I find myself tasked with an assignment to write a very short fiction passage for young people of a young man telling a story to an upset younger sister in order to to quell her anger and anxiety: but once I devise the story he will tell her, the underlying and overarching purpose of the piece I'm hired to write revolves around how and why we use stories culturally.

Again, thanks for your time in reading this.

A.

My answer, as mentioned above, is: “Right, exactly, good question. And: “What do you think, Story Club?”

What is the purpose/utility of stories in our culture today?

To me, this is a vital question because it informs every aspect of what we do, as readers and writers. If the form is still vital, and in a certain way, then we should devise our approach to that end; likewise if we feel it serves some moral purpose. On the other hand, if stories (written, fictive) stories are on the fade - what does that say about our approach?

And so on.

As I’ve been thinking through this question this week, I might add, I notice myself thinking about it in two ways: 1) in a big-picture, philosophical way (“Stories are important because….” and 2) in a more functional way, having to do with what reading a story or novel actually does to me during and after that experience.

Obviously, 1) and 2) are related in some way.

Let’s hear from all of you and (I bet, I hope) I’ll have more to say about this next Thursday.

P.S. And Sunday, behind the paywall, a bit of very interesting “Clay”-related ephemera uncovered by one of our fellow Story Clubbers…