“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller”. (Steve Jobs)
In a landmark study published in 1944 in The American Journal of Psychology entitled “An Experimental Study of Apparent Behavior”, a number of students were asked to describe the movements of three geometrical figures presented in a short animated film.
Curiously, nearly every student in the study interpreted the objects not as mere inanimate shapes moving around randomly on the screen, but rather as animated beings, complete with motives and desires, as if they were characters in a drama. A comment by an anonymous viewer on the Youtube channel where you can view the original animation vividly illustrates this phenomenon: “Go Little Triangle. Your brave fight against Big Triangle’s oppression shall not be forgotten.”
Humans are storytellers. Dreams, religion, children’s play, song, computer games, even our conceptions of our self, demonstrate our innate predilection for storytelling.
Stories could be understood as a sophisticated form of pattern recognition. Pattern recognition begins at birth as we learn to recognize our mother’s face. We quickly begin to understand basic words and, later, more abstract concepts. As we enter ever more complex social scenarios, stories provide a means to recognize and engage with the patterns within these scenarios. Without these stories, we would be truly lost when faced with complex social scenarios, not unlike a baby who is unable to recognize a caregiver’s face.
The accumulated wisdom of our species is gathered together in stories. They teach us about overcoming fear through bravery and adversity through perseverance, how to feel compassion for those less fortunate, how to love and how to protect ourselves from those who would hurt us, how to face pain and overcome loss, and much more.
Every human culture has stories. Indeed, one of the best ways we can understand other cultures and other people is by listening to their stories. One of my favourite stories from Vietnam (where my wife was born and raised) features a king’s advisor who teaches the king a valuable lesson about the wisdom of our elders. The story reflects the Vietnamese cultural emphasis on respect for elders and ancestors.
What we librarians sometimes refer to as “recreational” reading actually serves a vital social purpose. Book lovers are part of a living tradition that is thousands of years old, one that is common to every culture around the world.
Today, the public library is the modern society’s primary distribution centre for stories. It is the town square, the travelling bard, the people’s university.
The library has stories for everyone: audiobooks for those who cannot see, outreach and home delivery services for those who cannot come to the library in person, storytelling programs for children and early literacy circle times for babies, and “living book” speaker series for people to share their stories with others in the community.
There is something vital and magical happening at the library. Make sure you arrive early so you can get a parking spot.
Happy reading!
Aaron Francis is the Chief Librarian at Creston Valley Public Library. He is currently reading House of Names by Colm Toibin.