;Jchn 3, CctVJeth· / , f Gci\d

L(.,lic<l i-l'j / b · -1
and for very different and expressive purposes. The basis of this
iscussion is a treatment of three major hard-boiled writers, two of wbom,
)ashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, are considered significant artists
y many persons and the third, Mickey Spillane, is usually viewed as the
potheosis of non-art. I offer the view that there is a kind of artfulness The Study of Literary Formulas
wolved in Spillane's work, though it is certainly a different kind than that
)r which we value the stories of Hammett and Chandler.
When literary formulas last for a considerable period of time, they usually
ndergo considerable change as they adapt to the different needs and
1terests of generations. Chapter 8 is an of
tonary process usmg the western as a case study. In th1s a1scusswn wfilcFi
1oves from James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking saga to the western
ilms of the early 1970s, I attempt to show how the western formula has "
esponded to changing American attitudes by a continua! reinterpretation of t
:s basic elements.
Since most of my examination of the various dimensions of formulaic <
.terature has concerned itself with formulas embodying the archetypes of
dventure and mystery, I have had little opportunity to consider with any Formulas, Genres, and Archetypes
1tensity the great range of formulas that depend primarily on the archetypal
•atterns of romance, melodrama, and alien beings and states. While a full ·J: In general, a literary formula is a structure of narrative or dramatic-)
reatment of these areas would expand this study beyond reasonable limits, I conventions employed in a great number of individual works. There
eel that we must examine at least one aspect of this area of popular common usages of the term rela_!_e___dt.Q_the--corrceptten.I wish
iterature. Therefore I have chosen, in chapter 9, to explore one melodra- to set forth. In fact, if we put these two conceptions together, I think we will
natic formula, the best-selling "blockbuster" or social novel. In this chapter I ha ve an adequate definition of literary formulas. The first usage simply jr :
tave tried to indicate, in briefer torrn, how the various perspectives and denotes a conventional way of treating sorne specific thing or person.
nethods _of_ analy_sis developci in chapters might be Homer' s {\chilles_, cloud-gather_ing_ Zeus-are co_Il'\- 1 ¡1 r;fJ
.pplied to this complex formula. I consider the definition of the blOckbuster monly referred to as formulas as are a number of his standard símiles and CJ:;' 1 , _.
ormula, its character as art, its relation to its cultural background and head fell -¡;;-¡;--; '
.udience, and sorne suggestions as to how we might begin to trace its conventional bardic formulas fo r filling a dactylic hexameter line. By
volution. - ex tension, any forrn of culturª-l.Ji_ter_e_o_type...C.QIDID.º-Dhd_Q:RIJ_d in -liter<!.lu...r.e.::::--
Chapter 9 can serve as a summary of the various problems explored in this red-headed, -hot:_ternp_e,Le,QJri$.hme,_Q, brilliantly analytical and eccentric detes::- . ,¡
' "----------- - -- -- --------------------------------- \
¡ook. The conclusion is reserved for my attempt to define the major ti ves, _ __to as
nadequacies and limitations of this work, not so much to forestall my Jhe impor tant thing to note about tliis usage is __
eaders, who will certainly have their own sense of this book's shortcomings, terns of convention which are usually quite specific_tg a particu-la-r-culture .and.::¡
mt because, having lived with this inquiry for sorne years, I do have a ',
period andaonót mean the context. Thus the -'
>eculiarly poignant vision of its strengths and weaknesses. I try to articulate ;
formulaic relation between blondness añd sexual purity
his sense as clearly as I can in the conclusion, along with sorne suggestions gave way in the twentieth century to a very different formula for blondes.
or further inquiry. The formula of the lrishman's hot temper was particularly characteristic of
English and American culture a t periods where the Irish were perceived as
lower-class social intruders.
The second common literary usage of the term formula refers to larger plot
tl2_es . This is the of form ula commonly those- inanuáis .
.
:. Lor that give the n;cipeii for twenty-one sure-fire plots-boy
' girl, girl ha ve a misunderstanding, boy gets girl. These general
'

/
6

plot patterns are not necessarily limited to a specific culture or period. such conceptions clearly imply universal or transcultural conceptions of
Instead, they seem to represent story types that, if not universal in their literary structure, they are examples of what I have called archetypes. I don't
appeal, have certainly been p_g.¡;ml.aL.in. many different cultures at many think it makes a great deal of difference whether we refer to something as a
In fact, they are examples of what sorne scholars have cai!ed formula or as a popular genre, if we are clear just what we are talking about
arche types or patterns that appeal in many different cultures. and why. In the interests of such clarification Jet me offer one distinction I
Actuaily, if we look at a popular sto!J' type such as the western, the have found useful.
detective story, or the spy adventuré, we find that it combines these two sorts In defining literary classes, it seerns to me that we commonly have t;.w.o_ ( ¿___
These popular story are embodiments of relate.d but distiñguishable First of al!, we may be primarily
story--form...?-::.Ln .Jerms_of_ T o crea te a interested in .. of .
western involves not only sorne understanding of how to construct an literary works for the of Qr relating literary ..... ·
exciting adventure story, but also how to use certain nineteenth- and j)FóductiQ.n to other:s ui.t!lral pattelE_s; -In sueh not- primarily
twentieth-century images and symbols such as cowboys, pioneers, outlaws, interested in the artistic qualities of individual works but in the degree to
frontier towns, and saloons along with . appropriate cultural themes or which particular works share co_!!!_mon that may be indica tive
myths-such as nature vs. civilization, the code of the West, or law and of important cultural tendencies. On the other hand, we classes as _ · ,
vs. outlawry-to support and give significance to the action. Thus a means of defining and evaluating the unique qualiti.es_.9f individual works. -- ..
formulas are ways in which specific cultural themes and In such instances we tend to think of geñres simply a; geñeralized
embodied in more universal story archetypes. descriptions of a number of individual works but as a set of artistic --,
Tne reason why formulas are constructed in this way is, I think, fairly __a._Il..Q pote_I}tials. With such a conception in mind, we can ...,
straightforward. Certain story archetypes particularly fulfill man's needs for i.udii¡dua].w.Qrksiii_at least two different ways: .(a) by the way in which they
enjo}'ment (I offer sorne speculations about thepsychology o{ fulfill or fail to fulfillthe- i'Cleal'potentia!Sí nherent in the genre and thereby !
tl'íís. in--chapter 2.) But in order for these patterns to work, they must be achieve or fail to the- fuil artistic effect of that particular type of
embodied in figures <- settings,._and that meanings construction. These the terms in which Aristotle treats tragedy; (b)cby the
1ór- the cufture whlch produces them. Oft'e cannot write a successful adven- way in which the individual work deviates from the-flat standard Qf the genre._ 1--;-: ·
t.ure .story about a social character ty;e that the cuittirecannot conceive irÍ. acc omplish sorne unique· individual· e xpression or Pa"J2_!:!lar _}___ ._,
this is why we have so few adventure stories a
or streetsweepers. lt is, however, certainly not inconceivable that a transcends fhe- limitatlons of the genre or how
:ulture might emerge which placed a different sort of valuation or interpreta- achieves a distinctive individual statement. This is the approach implicit in
tion on these tasks, in which case we might expect to see the evolution of much "auteu( criticism_ Qf the movies, where the personal qualities of
:1dventure story formulas about them. Certainly one can see signs of such individual directors aré measured against sorne conception of the standard
developments in the popular literature of Soviet Russia and Maoist China. characteristics of popular genres .
. _. The concept of a formula as I ha ve defined it is a means of generalizing the
It is also similar cha racteristics of large groups of individual works from certain combinations
¡¡:;-
many trad.itional literary conception.
... - - - . ·- is ·- of cultural materials and archetypal story patterns. It is useful primarily as a
::>ound to be a good deal of confusion about the terms and means of making historical and cultural inferences about the
;ince they are __the For example, !.1ntasies shared by large groups of people and of identifying differences in
many film scholars and critics use the term "popular genre" to denote literary these fantasies from one culture or period to another. When we turn from the
types like the western or the detective story that are clearly the same as what I cu ltural or historical use of the concept of formula to a consideration of the
:al! formulas. On the other hand, the term is often used to describe th.e artistic limitations and possibilities of particular formulaic patterns, we are
Jroadest sort of type such as drama, pro se fiction, !y ríe poetry. This 1reating these formulas as a basis for aesthetic judgments of various sorts. In
íselearly a very of classification than that of western, detective 1hese cases, we might say that our generalized definition of a formula has
;tory, spy story. Still another usage of genre involves concepts like tragedy, beco me a conception of a genre. Formula and genre might be best understood
:omedy, romance, and satire. Insofar as such c2!2.cepts lt(ll <Js denoting two different things, but as reflectmg two..phase-s or aspects of -

C?f they do bear so me resemb lance process of literary of at the relation

:o the kind of classification involved in th e definit i<.'n ni pllpuLu ¡;\'nres . Sinn: Í wt \\'('(_'11 formu la and genre reflects the way in which popular genres develop.

\
In most cases, a will be in J or sorne forrn of standardization, artistic communication would not be
p_¡;:,riod of time before it is conceived of by ifscreators and audience as a sible. But well-established conventional structures are particularly essentiaf
genre. For ex.i"mple, the western formula was already clearly defined in the to the creation of formula literature and reflect the interests of audiences,
nineteenth century, yet it was not until the twentieth century that the western creators, and distributors.
was consciously conceived of as a distinctive literary and cinematic genre. Audiences find satisfaction and a basic emotional security in a __}
Similarly, for the detective form; in addition, the audience's past experience with a formula gives it a )
and many stories and novels made so me ·patterr\ the sense of what to expect in new individual examples, thereby increasing its
la ter nineteenth century, it was probably not until after Conan Doyle that the capacity for understanding and enjoying the details of a work. For creators, 1
detective story became widely understood as a specific genre with its own the formula provides a means for the rapid and efficient production of new 1
special limitations and potentialities. If we conceive of a genre as a literary works. Once familiar with the outlines of the formula, the writer who
class that views certain-typical patterns in-relation-teHheir artistic limitations - devotes -himself to this sort of creation does not ha ve to make as mány
and potentials, it will help us in making a further useful clarification. Because difficult artistic decisions as a novelist working without a formula. Thus,
the conception of genre involves an to literary (ormulaic creators tend to be extremely prolific. Georges Simenon has turned
it can be conceived either in terms of the specific 10miuias of ·a- -particular out an extraordinary number of first-rate detective novels, in addition to his
-ªfchefypes: -there lcss formulaic fiction. Others have an even more spectacular record of
when we rr;iglit 1-\,-i-s·h- ro -evaluate -a ·particular vvestern in relation to quantity production: Frederick Faust and John Creasey each turned out over
·· other westerns. In this case we would be using a conception _of a formula- (ive hundred novels under a variety of pseudonyms. For publishers or film
genre, or what is sometimes more vaguely called a popular studios, the production of formulaic works is a highly rationalized operation
wish to relate this same western to sorne more únl:.:rersal generic with a guaranteed mínima! return as well as the possibility of large profits for
such as tragedy or romance. Here we would be employing an particularly popular individual versions. 1 have been told, for instance, that
any paperback western novel is copies to cover
These, then, are the major terms that I propose to employ in the study of expenses and make a small the other hand, ....
formulaic literature. As I have indicated, I hold no special brief for this ¡:ail to make expenses and sorne represenCSubstantial losses. There is an \
p'a-rti-Cular terminology, but Ido believe that the implied distinctions between inevitable tendency toward standardization implicit in the economy of /
the descriptive and the aesthetic modes of generalization and between the modern publishing and film-making, if only because one successful work will (
cultural and universal conceptions of types of stories are crucial and must be Insp ire a number of imitations by producers hoping to share in the profits. \
understood in the way we use whatever terms we choose for this sort of lf the production of formulas were only a matter of economics, we mlghf'
analysis. In the remainder of this chapter 1 will deal with what can be said in a wdl turn the whole topic over to market researchers. Even if economic
general way about the analysis of formulaic structures. co nsiderations were the sol e motive behind the production of formulas-and
1 have already suggested that there are other important motives as well-we
1
The Artistic Characteristícs of would still need to explore the kind and leve! of artistic creation possible ¡'
Formula Literature 1-vithin the boundaries of a formula. . _.
/ ·- , Robert Warshow in his essay on the gangster film effectively defined the
:-' Formula literature is, first of all, a kind of literary_ <3_rt ,<Therefore, it can be bpecial aesthetic imperatives of this sort of literary creation:
', analyzed and evaluated like any other kind of literature. T):Vo central _asp.ects_
of forrnulaic structures have been generally condemned in the serious artistic Por such a type to be successful means that its conventions have imposed
r--lhought of the last hundred years: their essential standardization and their themselves upon the general consciousness and become the acceptcd ¡
vehicle of a particular set of altitudes and a particular aesthetic effect. One \
of k'Oraér to consider
formula Títerature in its ownTerms and not simply to condemn it out of hand, goes to any individual example of the type with very definite expectations,
we must explore sorne of the aesthetic implications of these two basic charac- and oríginality is to be welcomed only in the degree that it intensifies the
c.x pected expe rience without fundamentally altering it. Moreover, the rela -
teristics.
tionship between the conventions which go to make up such a type and the
While standardization is not highly valued in modern artistic ideologies, it re<:1l exoerience of its a udience or the real facts of whatever situat:ion it
is, in important ways, the esse:nce of all literature. Standard conventions pr('lt:njs to describe is only of secondary importance and does not: deler-
establish a common ground between writers and audiences. Without at leas! tnitle il s <H'slh eti c force. It is only in an ultimate sense that the type
/

to its audience's experience of ·reality; more immediately it appeals to

" ___ gf_p_l o t ___QI___s_e.tJi_n.g__ _tbªL ..?ui1 ... YÚ thin / (
previous experience of the type itself: it creates its own field of reference
[italics mine]. 1
T he power to employ stereotypical characters and situations in such a way
SJ.nce the pleasure and effectiveness of an individual formulaic work depends 1o breathe ___ !.l1.t.<? .. .. crucial _.to
\)n of a the formuia- cr:eaté"s iTS- own ñ"C"i;ic art Of high quality since the creator-of a western or detective story
;world with which we become familiar by learn in this -way :mn ol risk departing very far from the typical characters and situations his
how to experience this im.agfnaryworia--wÜfiouCconfinüalTycomp·a r-ing it 1dience has come to expect. In a western, for example, if the creator
1with our own experience. Thus, as we shall see in a few moments, formulaic pl nys such stereotypical situations as the chase on horseback, the barroom
' illeratui'e. . . íSaffió;t appropriate vehicle for the experiences of escape and and the shootout, and such conventional characters as the school-
relaxation. Let me first exa:qline sorne of the artistic problems generated by rrn from the East, the dance-hall girl, the slick gambler, the crooked
the funaamenta l formulaic-imperafíVe ofi ntensifying an·expected nkerA he seeay- doE-ter- or lawyer,- and the-E-owbey- here,-he
In this type of literature, the relationship between individual work and vantage of heightening his audience's immediate response through the
formula is somewhat analogous to that of a variation to a theme, or of a ition that comes from many previous encounters with these characters
performance toa text. To be a work of any quality or interest, the individual situations. But the good writer must renew these stereotypes by adding
version of a formula must have sorne unique or special characteristics of its clements, by showing us sorne new and unexpected facet, or by relating .
own, characteristics must ultimately work toward the fulfillment of tn lo other stereotypes in a particularly expressive fashion. The ultimate 1
- 1
the conventional form., In somewhat the same way, when we see a new o( a truly vitalized stereotype is the degree t2__ __ !.
performance of a famoíis role like Hamlet, we are most impressed by it if it is
a new but acceptable interpretation of the part. An actor who overturns all
our previous conceptions of his role is usually Iess enjoyable than one who eolypes tnátnave --pféasea á.üdienc-es over· ·¿,r
á nUml:)er years, formulas
\
builds on the interpretations we have become accustomed to . But if he adds selves ha ve much of this power. The western · has been a successful
no special touches of his own to the part we will experience his performance rmu la for o ver a hundred years and is now a genre of worldwide
as flat and uninteresting. The same thing is true of variations on a theme as in, ularity. Individual instances of a formula generally tend to be limited in
for example, a jazz performance . The soloist who makes us completely lose Ir a ppeal either to a particular period or a particular culture. And yet,
individual formulaic works contain vitalized stereotvoes that survive
will lose the special pleasure that comes with our recognition of new ynnd their historical moment. O ? <PCl"SS·'\-·E
emphasis and intensity given to a melody we already know. On the other Two sorts of stereotype vitalization seem particularly effective. The first is'¡(--;'")
.. hand, an improvisation that simply repeats the tune or "noodles" around it
( · arouses very little excitement. This artistic principie of variations on a theme
ho ·_reotypical character who also embodies qualities that seem contrary to
w ntcreotypical traits . For example, Sherlock Holmes is the stereotype of the
.. . .¡r-l
· is clearly one of the fundamental modes of expression in popular culture, as
can be seen from the tremendous importance of performance in almost all of
- ...
· · ·
the supreme man of reason. Yet, at the same
incorQorates
the popular media. From this point cif view a new detective story by, say, __ .f<?E __¡;¡_ man of
Agatha Christie, is comparable in many ways to a successful production of a l\ltlit.io n, a dreamer, anda drugtaker, who . Jig_g)ing _aimlessly
familiar play by a gifted cast and a talented director.
It is not easy to put into words the rather subtle and even fleeting qualities
,¡r;"' s;; _ .<?L x
th lngs that made Holmes such a striking literary character. A similarly
that make one performance stand out over another. In a Iater chapter, I will rtldoxical mixture marks the portrayals of sorne of the great western stars.
discuss this problem in connection with the formula of the classical detective 'j¡;¡ r y Cooper, for exa mple, is typically aman of violence, enormously skill ed
story. There the quality of the individual work depends on the .... \V Ith guns a nd fists and faster on the draw than anyone else; yet he also pla ys
ability to invent sorne ingenious new type of mystification while still working !\ thMacler of grea t shyness and gentleness. Because Cooper so effectively
-within thecOñvenffónaTstrucFiire--o rraHcinardeFectio ri. Eich formula ha s its f1Jn hndi ed th ese stereo typica l opposites in his manner and physical presence,
determlñe whatlTnd of n ew and
un ique elements a re lw b<:u11ne perhaps th e grea tes t of the wes tern stars, fo r thi s sa me mixtu re
possible without straining the formula to the breaking point. We ca n point to 1 he ro of so me of the nlOst effec tive western sto ries-Ma x
a t least two special artistic skills tha t all good formul a ic writers sccm to / J,- ,, fr y {\idt•s A gaiu, Jack Sc haefer's 5/za ne, Owen Wi ster's Th e Virgiuiuu.
possess to sorne degree': the abiJity to give new vitaJil y lO Sl( 'l\'nly p('S and tlw :\ :,,.,·.,nd mode of stcrco ly pc vit a li za ti o n is th c ad diti o n of signifi ca n!
12 h f¡ ¡ 1\ !1li r'¡ f'J\ 6¿_
_7 ; /i O,,Tl
¡- -¡. .p r.
D·v-...&'-.Jv- 1, ---"::>
Clla-pt·erOne Literary Formulas 13

touches of human complexity or frail!_y to This is __ nts in the history of the western, a new work has given rise to a new
-v éry del{cate-matter, for if a character he may ion of the formula. Just recently, for example, Thomas Berger's Little Big
cast a shattering and light on the other elements of the formula. and the highly successful movie based on that novel have already been
Many works fail rather badly because they develop characters and situations y imitated in their handling of western conventions. Another current
that are too complex for the formulaic structure they are part of, without mple of a work whose success probably marks the emergence of a new
becoming sufficiently individualized to support a nonformulaic structure of rsion of a traditional formula is The Godfather.
their own. The film director John Ford has always been a master of this sort Another major characteristic of formula literature is the dominant influ-
of stereotype treatment. Working with a group of stereotypical characters, he of the goals of escape and entertainment. Because such formulaic types .-
is able to suggest scenes and gestures to his performers that add rich touches mystery and adventure stories are used as a means of temporary escape
of human complexity to his characters. One exemplary scene is the great the frustrations of life, stories in these modes are commonly defined as
church dedication sequence iniV1y Dcir1ing -Clementine -wnere- tne s tereo- blltefature (as opj::fosed entertainment (as opposed to serious
typical western hero, Wyatt Earp, suddenly finds himself accompanying a · ture), popular art (as opposed to fine art), lowbrow culture (as opposed
lady to a church meeting anda dance. The wonderfully awkward and clumsy highbrow), or in terms of sorne other pejorative opposition. The trouble
gestures that Ford worked out with Henry Fonda, who played the part, add a th this sort of approach is that it tends to make us perceive and evaluate
delightfully wann sense of human comedy to Earp's heroic stature, without . mula literature simply as an inferior or perverted form of something
in the least undercutting the quality of nobility called for in the formula. tler, instead of seeing its "escapist" characteristics as aspects of an artistic)
Another example of this kind of portrayal, very much in the Ford tradition, is with its own purposes and justification. After all, while most of us -
Sam Peckinpah's treatment of two aging western heroes in Ride the High ·tdd condemn escapism as a total way of life, our capacity to use our
Country. The so re feet, aching backsides, and arthritic twinges with which tions to construct alternative worlds into which we can temporarily
Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott comically contend in the course of their - t'C<:lt is certainly a central human characteristic and seems, on the whole, a
heroic mission make them much more interesting and memorable characters uable one.
without ultimately detracting from their stereotypical heroism. In fact, these In order to short-circuit such implicitly evaluative oppositioris as low and
moments really intensify, in Warshow's sense, our pleasure in the work's or popular and serious literature, I propose to proceed on the basis of a -
fulfillment of the heroic pa ttern of the western formula. categorization of mimetic and formulaic literature, using the distinction \
The sort of uniqueness of plot and- setting appropriate to formulaic • ted by Warshow when he says,
structures is analogoll$ to the artistic value of ster:eotype vitalization. Elder
_Olson once remarked to me that he thought the real difference between lhc relationship oetween fne convent1ons whic h go to make up such a type -
, i mystery or adventure stories and "serious" literature was that the latter
t111d the real experience of its audience of the real facts of whatever situa-
tl ons it pretends to describe is only of secondary importance and does not
J' worked toward the representation of universal characters and situations
determine its aesthetic force. It is only in an ultimate sense that the type

r-
former reached its highest success by creating something unique. At
nppea ls to its audience's experience of reality; much more immediately, it
first gfánce, -this--61JserVaficirCseems- C'IJ'ñfrary --fo-tnelormurafc -emphasis on ttppeals to previous experience of the type itself; it creates its own field of
conventional structures. Nevertheless, we do value a certain kind of unique- ·.· rdcrence. . \
ness in fonnulaic literature precisely because the type is so highly standard-_ (
ized. This is not the creativity of a work that breaks through the conventions w n1imetic element in literature confronts us with the world as we know it, , ·
of a particular cultural milieu. A successful formulaic work is unique when , hil e the formulaic element reflects the construction of an ideal w_o.rld_i
in addition to the pleasure inherent in the conventional structure, it brings a the limilª-Jions.. ofthe 1
'
into the formula, or embodies the personal vision of the creator.
----------·· ------------------------· __ Of course, the mimetic and the formulaic represent !
· If such new elements also became widely popular, tney may in turn become polcs that most literary works lie somewhere between. Few novels,
widely imitated stereotypes and the basis of a new version of the formula or dedicated to the representation of reality, do not have sorne element
even of a new formula altogether. Dashiell Hammett's stories and novels ol 1.11(: ideaL And most formulaic works have at least the surface texture of the
transformed the detective story by creating a new kind of detective in a new wof'id, as Mickey Spillane's heroic detective stories are full of the grittiness
kind of setting. Because these new elements were widely imitated, Hammett's < !ltH l of the corrupt city. It is possible that in earlier periods the
work actually led to the development of a new detective story formul a that dtHlli n : llll liter;1ry form s so balanced mimetic a nd formulaic elements that a
is, as we shall see, quite different from the cla ssica l dctect ive story _ Al mil ny ''!'''' l: di /_cd lit <·rature of escape was unnecessa ry . But the formulaic con-
14 15

structions of the last century or so, with which we are primarily concerned in 'rhe n frustration and boredom set in untíl nature takes its course and the
this study, do tend to have overall structures of a conventional character that physiological cycle begins anew. Clearly a more artful and ultimately
differentiate them from contemporaneous mimetic works. . lisfying form of escape is one that can sustain itself over a longer period of
What, then, are the aseects of formulaic literature that constitute what we · tlme and arrive at sorne sense of completion and fulfillment within itself. We
·. rmight call tpe First of all, I think we can say that formulaic Oíight take as our model of this sort of experience a good thriller or detective /
:;Q 1works stress and immediate kinds of . -- - ry, where the interest and excitement, though perhaps not as physically
as-opposed to the more complex and ambiguous analyses of . iltense as in the case of pornography, are sustained over a much longer cycle
..character and motivation that characteríze mimetic literature. It is almost a ' 11d resolved without the requirement of physical action outside the imagi-
\Í cliché that formulaic works actjoi,l_ ?n9..PJ.9.. of a violent ry world. Despite the ready availabilíty of pornography in recent years,
) · and exciting sort, i.e., actions involving danger or sex or both. In order for us grea t majority of people clearly continue to prefer other kinds of
to ternporaríly forget aboút our OXI'Il. and enter fully into an rmulaic structures such a·s tnrillers and detective most of
imaginary wor ld, ·w-e the ; trongest kinds of interest and_stigl.JI]Us. In of relaxation and entertainment. If my speculations about the
relation to this .. structure of "l'listry of escape are correct, this will probably continue to be the case, even
pornographic literature might serve asan ideal type. Pornography is perhaps pornography becomes still more widely acceptable on moral grounds.
the most completely formulaic of líterary structures in that all its various Some people have argued that there is a pornography of violence as well as
elements are oriented toward one purpose, the narration or presentation of f 1Wxuality and that many current films with their graphic portrayal of death
scenes of sexual activity in such a way as to create in the audience a uld be considered as analogous to the pornographic representation of
pleasurable state of sexual excitation so direct and immediate that it is al activity. No doubt violence, like sex, plays an important role in
physical as well as mental , i.e., a state of tumescence. The experience of ulaic structures because of its capacity to generate the kind of intense
pornography can be an extremely effective form of escape from the limita- iJe lings that take us out of ourselves. But the effects of the representation of
tions of reality into a fantasy world of totally submissive females readily lcn ce seem considerably more obscure and complicated that those of sex.
willing or forced to subrnit to sexual activity with lustful enthusiasm. While Secing pictures or reading accounts of sexual activity will tend to arouse
pornography is doubtless an effective escape formula for many people, Jwal excitation that in turn causes a desire for release through orgasm. At
however, it has too many limitations to be a fully effective formulaic art. this holds true for the majority of men, who are still the prime ·
Aside from the fact that rnany people find the pornographic world
escape experience offered violence has any comparable effect. Whíle sorne recent studies suggest that
by pornography is really too immediately physical to be sustained for any in children seek physical release by aggressive behavior after seeing a
substantial period of time. In effect, the only possible consequences of a Cf't![ll'tsentation of violence, there is certainly no clear-cut physiological cyclc
pornographic episode are orgasm or detumescence, both of which lead volved in su eh responses as there is in the case of sexuality . For sorne peoplc
inevitably back to the world of reality. The creators of pornography have ok nce is sexually exciting; others react to it with a feeling of intense disgust
attempted to overcome this difficulty by developing a narrative and dramatic w· horror. Perhaps the most we can say on this subject in our present state of
structure that seeks to sustain and intensify sexual excitation through a series crslanding is that if there is a pornography of violence the
of increasingly cornplex and perverse episodes of sexual activity. Many a tions can be made about it that I have suggested in connection with
pornographic books or filrns begin with masturbation and proceed through [if'X ll.11 pornography. Beca use it arouses extreme feelings, the representation
normal heterosexual intercourse, followed by cunnilingus and anal ínter- .j Ü violence is an effective means of generating the experience of escape. And
' course to a grand clirnactic orgy involving severa! persons. Yet I would '' rnere sequence of violent episodes is not likely to be fully effective in
·; hazard the guess that the actual experience of pornography for most people · <lining and completing the experience. 2
consists of moments of pleasurable excitation interspersed with long stretches lthink that our fuller understanding of the art of literary escapism involves
of boredom and frustration, rather than a sustained and completed expe- tt1cogn izing two rather different psychological needs, both of which play an
rience that leaves one ternporarily satisfied. ll'npnrlant part in shaping the kind of imaginative experiences we pursue for
Thus while the experience of escape requires the sort of intense interest and ft. L.I!I:llion and regeneration . First of al!, we seek moments oí intense
excitement that can be briefly generated in a receptive audience by pornog· txc il cnH·nl and interest to get· away from the ;lf.¡,
raphy, the weakness of pornography is that it arouses an exc itation so intenst• :,,,,,:¡¡, uL!rly prcvalent inlhe.relatively secure, routine , and organizecl liv es \)1
and that it tends to force immediate g ratifi c<Jt ion outside itse l(. é--flw ¡·,1'('.11 m:1jnrily ;1r thr con tempo rary American and westcrn Eur<1pean
1-6 Cnapter Gne The 8tucl-y of Literary Fmmulas 17

public. At the sarne time, we seek -.escape f_rorn_..Qill" consciousness of the used b?' ic of serve as an of thi_s sort ·1
ultirnate insecurities and arnbiguities that afflict even the of of artrstlc and the creatmg of a shghtly
tü1 iccümiiTí5Eali-we-haci removed, (rnaginary wo_9 . Suspmsé' is essentially the writer's ability to
BeriérñiC:eiy··aescf1Sed ·these two evoke in uS"--a-t-e-mp0rary sense of fear and uncertainty about the fate of a
Tm!Jtifsés r11·a aY= character we care about. It is a special kind -otu.ncertainty that is _always
5-.
f
i Man has two primal needs. First is a need for order, peace, and security,
for protection against the terror or confusion of Iife, for a familiar and
pointed toward a possible resolution . Thesinlplest rnodel of suspense is the
life is irnrnediately threatened while
predictable world, and for a life which is happily more of the sarne .... But the rnachinery of salvation is ternporarily withheld frorn us. We know,
the second primal impulse is contrary to the first: rnan positively needs however, that the hero or heroine wili be saved in sorne way, because he
- '1 anxiety and uncertainty, thrives on confusion and risk, wants trouble, always is. In its crudest forrn the cliff-hanger presents the cornbination of
í tension, jeopardy, novelty, rnystery, would be lost without enernies, is ex treme exdternent w ithin a Irarnewórk of certainty and security that
sornetirnes happiest when rnost miserable. Human spontaneity is eaten characterizes forrnulaic literature. Of course, the cruder forms of suspense-
away by sarneness: rnan is the animal rnost expert at being bored. 3 however effective with the young and the unsophisticated-soon lose rnuch
In the ordinary course of experience, these two impulses or needs are of their power to excite more sophisticated audiences. Though there are
inevitably in conflict. If we seek order and security, the result is likely to be degrees of skill in producing even the sirnpler forrns of suspense, the better--¡
: boredorn and sarneness. But rejecting order for the sake of change and forrnulaic artists devise rneans of protracting and (
! novelty brings danger and uncertainty. As Berger suggests in his essay, rnany larger, more believable structures. Good detective story writers are able
central aspects of the history of culture can be interpreted as a dynarnic maintain a cornplex intellectual suspense centering on the possibility that a
tension between these two basic impulses, a tension that Berger believes has dangerous criminal rnight rernain at large or that innocent people rnight be
increased in rnodern cultures with their greater novelty and change. In such convicted of the crirne. They yet
cultures, rnen are continually and uncornfortably torn between the quest for at the same time assure us that the detective has the qualities which will
order and thefligbt escape and eventually enable hirn to reach the solution . Alfred Hitchcock is, at his best, t
the source of its ability to relax and please us is, I believe, that it ternporarily t.he master of a still more cornplex forrn of suspense that works at the very \
synthesizes these two needs and resolves this tension . This rnay account for edge of escapist fantasy. In a Hitchcock film like Frenzy, reassurance is kept to 1
,_1 th·e caríou·s- paraaox- rhatc haractenzes rnosCliterary torrnulas, the fact that a mínimum and eur aro<iety is increased tg the- point that we seriousl}[ begin
.j\ they are at once highly ordered and conventional and yet are perrneated t: o wonder whether we ha ve been betrayed, whether evil will triurnph and the
f;" .\,..with the syrnbols of danger, uncertainty, violence, and sex. In reading or innocent will suffer. After we have been toyed with in this way, it is a
, a forrnulaic work, we confront the ultirnate exciternents of !ove and powerful experience when the hero is finally plucked frorn the abyss. .
,""'":,{ death, but in such a way that our basic sense o! security__ and._order is Cornplex as it is, the suspense in a work like Hitchcock's Frenzy is different··· ('
) 1 rather than a!!( __an from the kind of uncertainty characteristic of rnirnetic literature. The
\ irnaginaryTafner that Eperience, and,__ uncertainty in a rnirnetic work derives frorn the way in which it continuaily -
(;---' jÍañol:iñcertamty aTE; y conlrollecfa¡;-d
- -.... _ _ _ __ ____________ ...___of
_ challenges our easy assurnptions and presuppositions about Iife. This tends to
· ¡f}ie forrnu1aic reduce the intensity of suspense effects since, if we perceive the world of the
As we ha ve seen, the world of a formula can be described as an archetypal story as an irnitation of the arnbiguous, uncertain, and lirnited world of
story pattern ernbodied in the irnages, syrnbols, thernes, and rnyths of a reality we are ernotionally prepared for difficulties to rernain unresolved o!'
particular culture. As shaped by the irnperatives of the experience of escape, for resolutions to be thernselves the source of further uncertainties. But if we
these forrnulaic worlds are constructions that can be described as moral are encouraged to perceive the story world in terrns of a well-known formula,
fantasies constituting an irnaginary world in which the audience can t·he suspense effect will be more emotionally powerful beca use we are so sure
encounter a rnaxirnurn of exciternent without being confronted with an t.hat it must work out. One..of.lhe.maj_oL s..o.ur.ces_o.LHitchcocks .. eHects .is ·thc- \
overpowering sense of the insecurity and danger that accornpany such forrn s wa.y in_ .._is:h _no. t ..cr.eates suspense.. aro.un..d ep._isod. but ¡
of exciternent in reality. Much of the artistry of forrnulaic literature involves suggests from time to t1me that he may depart frorn the bas1c conventrons of \
the creator's ability to plunge us into a believable kind of exciternent while, at 1he fo rmtda ic Of course, we d011;t reaily think he'sgoing to ,
the sarne time, confirrning our confidence that in the forrnulai c world things Inri lh c tension betwecn our hope that thin gs will be properly resolved and
always work out as we want thern to. Three o_f the litera ry devi c('s rno•;l oftcn <1 t11 · that Hitchcock might sudd enl y dum p us o ut of th e mnri1 1 .. ,
1
\ - ) :-. '· \ ( \ i' '' (\. ( ,.: ' : :, ., ,! ( 1

\ ., ' ';
/
18 The Study of Literary Formulas 19

fantasy in which mysteries are always solved and the guilty finally identified
and captured can be a terrifying and complex experience of considerable
artistic power. At the climactic moment of Frenzy the protagonist escapes .. t}:te . vyrj_te_r _the .necessity of }
from the prison to which he has been wrongfully condemned and sets out to exploring character with any __ ... e Second, . the'" lise"-o-C)
murder the man who is truly guilty, but finds himself beating an already L < the audience's conventional views of life and \
murdered victim in such a way that circumstantial evidence will certainly 1 s"ocíety also aids the purpose of escapism. Formulaic literature is generally
condemn him as the murderer. This is an extraordinary suspense effect characterized by a .. ___ ..
because, in the few moments before the final appropriate resolution, we are immediate involieme;t .:W.ÜDQ.l,lt _lpl,.l_C:h... of \
suspended o ver the abyss of reality. Such a moment would be less powerful if compJexlrony- or su})tlety, As a model of the simplest )
we were not ultimately expecting and anticipating the formulaic resolution. cr-úae-sno·rm.-·orímmecHate identification between protagonist and reader, I
The pattern of expectatioris with which approach an individual version might cite thenarrative methods of Mickey Spillane, which will be discussed in
of a formula results both from our previous experience of the type and from a later chapter. . -
certain interna! qualities that formulaic structures tend to have. One of the While Mickey Spillane does representa kind of narrative art that has been
most important such characteristics is the kind of identification we are enormously successful with a certain kind of audience, I would guess that the
encouraged to have with the protagonists. All stories involve sorne kind of formulaic writers of most lasting interest and consequently of greatest artistic
identification, for, unless we are able to relate our feelings and experiences to
those of the characters in fiction, much of the emotional effect will be los t. In
mimetic literature, identification is a complex phenomenon. Because mimetic
fictions aim at the representation of actions that will confront us with reality,
is necessary for writers to make us recognize our involvement in characters
importance are those who achieve the escapist form of identification in more

can be accomplished through the a!!. i:r:naginary world that r

complex and subtle ways that can withsta.nd. .a. c. e.r.ta-·i·n·· d.egree o. f.s.crutr.·.n y. ..T. .h. is '\

[> whose fates reveal the uncertainties, limitations, and unr(!so!vable mysteries irrimers€a in such a world, it is easier for us to escape from ourselves into
of the real world. our relationship to identification with a story's protagonists. Many of the most successful and
cnaraC:Eers;·m:Ütives, and situations we would not ordinarily choose to imagine long-lasting formulas such as that of the western, or various other forms of
ourselves as involved in or threatened by. "There but for the grace of God historical adventure, involve the creation of just such an integral fantasy
go I." Ordinarily I would prefer not to think of myself as a murderer, as a world, just as many of the best writers are very skillful in fleshing out the
or as a mrc1c11e-agec1 ta!lure cuckolc1ec1 by hrs wite. Yet ín Uostoev- , many
sky's Críme and Puníshment, Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury, and Joyce's Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories find renewed pleasure in rereading
Ulysses I am forced to recognize and come to terms with my participation in. them because of Doyle's remarkable ability to evoke an imaginary vision of a
the fate of Raskolnikov, of Quentin Compson, and of Leopold Bloom. The whole bygone world. Something of the same sort can be said about the
process of identification in a mimetic fiction involves both my recognition of continued popularity of such works as Margaret Mitchell's Gane wíth th(,!
the differences between myself and the characters and m y often reluctant but Wind, or Owen Wister's The Vírginían. Despite the fact that these works are Í
rather total involvement in their actions. I have at once a detached view and permeated with stereotypical characters, unlikely situations, and obsolete ,
a disturbingly full sympathy and understanding. themes and values, they retain a hold on later generations because thcir 1
L'--1( _its thrust, literature_ creates a very fantasy world seems so complete and interesting _in itself that it is still possible )
'' sort of rdentrfKatwn between audrence and protagomsts. l}oUo to enter into an effective escapist identification with the protagonists.
:. make mysdf. .tha.t I mightprder . to In general, the escapist aspect of formulaic art makes it analogous lo
· ignore but to take me out of myself by confirming an idealized self-image. certain kinds of games or play . In fact, if we look at television schedules, wc
: Thús, the -prófagonists of formulaic _li_ter_¡¡.t_l:lr(! are typically or more find that they contain a predominance of spectator sports and formui<:J , .
'· fortunáteln They · · hér¿es who ha ve the stories . Like such games as football or baseball, formula stories are individual (
"strengfh"añcrco·urage to lovers who find perfectly versions of a general pattern defined by a set of rules. While the rules rema in 1
suited partners, inquirers of exceptional brilliance who discover hidden the same, the highly varied ways in which they can be embodied in particulM
truths, or good, sympathetic:.Q_(!Qpk. ':Yh.C?se _<;:lifficulties are by sorne characters and actions produce a patterned experience of excitement, sus-
superior formulaic character the establish- pense, and release that, as in the case of the great games, can be perennia ily
-ment ofsoine direct bond between us and a superior figure whilc undercut- cngross ing no matter how often the game is repeated. In the formula world , \:
tlng or eliminating any aspects the story that threalen nur ¡]hilil y [ ll ¡•la y, the ego is enhanced because conflicts are reso lved and incscapa h!<'
20- "Fhe-Study-oH:i terary Formulas - 2-1-

tensions and frustrations transcended. Piaget's general descrip- takes place? Why do sorne sorts of stories become widely popular formulas
t;;th; -escapisTdimension of formulaic art : while others do not? How do we account for the pattern of change within
Conflicts are foreign to play, or, if they do occur it is so that the ego may formulas, or for the way one formula supersedes another in popularity?
be freed from them by compensation or liquidation whereas serious acti- What does popularity itself mean? Can we infer from the popularity of a
vity has to grapple with conflicts which are inescapable. The conflict work that it reflects public attitudes and motives, or is it impossible to go
between obedience and individual liberty is, for example the affliction of beyond the circular observation that a story is successful with the public
childhood and in reallife the only solutions to this conflict are submission, because the public finds it a good story? ,
revolt, or cooperation which involves sorne measure of compromise. In First of all, we can distinguish, I think, between the problem of the /'
play, however, the conflicts are ttansposed in such a way that the ego is popularity of an individual work and the popularity of a formula . Deter- )
revenged, either by suppression of the problem or by giving it an effective mining why a particular novel or film becomes a best-seller is problematlc
solution . . . . it is because the ego domina tes the whole universe in play becaüse-it is difficüH to be sure what elements or combiña:tiori. of elemeñts- fhe
that it is freed from conflict. •
public is responding to . Por example, in the case of the enormously successful
Thus there are a number of distinctive problems and techniques characteristic novel The Godfather, is it the topic of crime and the portrayal of violence
of formulaic art. In general, the most significant formulaic artists are those that made the book popular? Probably not, sin ce there are many other novels
. / who effectively solve these problems in a way that balances the claims of dealing with crime in a violent way that have not been equally successful.
,/ i escapism and the fulfillment of a conventional experience with the artistic Thus it must be something about the way in which crime and violence are
· interests of revitalized stereotypes, sorne degree of originality, and as much treated. Only if we can find other books or films that treat the topic of crime
plausibility as the boundaries of the formula will permit. in a similar way and also gain a considerable measure of popularity can we
.... -
feel sorne confidence that we ha ve come closer to isolating the aspects of The
Formulas and Culture Codfather that are responsible for its public success. (I attempt to do this for
Th e Godfather in chapter 3.) Clearly, we can only explain the success of
Formulas are cultural products and in turn presumably have sorne sort of individual works by m eans of a:nalogy and comparison with other successful
influence on culture because they become conventional ways of representing works, through the process of defining those elements or patterns that are
and rela ting certain images, symbols, themes, and myths. The process common to a number of best-sellers.
1
kind of cultural evolution with survival through audience selection. formula we have isolated at least one basis for tl}_e popularity of a large
Many different sorts of stories are written about a great diversity of number of works. Of course, sorne formulaic writers are more successful
subjects, but only a few become clearly established as formulas . For instance, l.h an others, and their unique popularity remains a problem that must be
out of the vast number of potential story possibilities associated with the rise cx plored in its own right. During his heyday, Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled
of urban industrialism in the nineteenth century, relatively few major detective stories sold far better than those of any other writer in the formula,
formulaic structures ha ve developed, such as the detective story, the gangster nnd Spillane's success was certainly one main reason why other writers
saga, the doctor drama, and various science-fiction formulas . Other story ('tlntinued to create this type of story . Yet quite apart from Spillane's own
types have been repeated often enough to become partly formulaic , such as r(: rsonal popularity, the hard-boiled detective formula, in the hands of
the story of the newspaper reporter and the scoop, or the story of the failure writers as diverse as Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Carter Brown ,
of success as represented in the figure of the great tycoon. But these two types Shell Scott, Brett Halliday, and many others, in hard-boiled detective films
have never had the sustained and widespread appeal of the western, the by directors like Howard Hawks, John Huston, Roman Polanski, and in TV
detective story, or the gangster saga. Still other potential story topics have Hr ri es like "Cannon," "Mannix," and "Barnaby Jones," has been continually \
never become popular at al!. There is no formula for the story of the union with the public since the late 1920s. When it becomes such a widely )
leader-despite the best efforts of "proletarian" critics and novelists in the formula, a story pattern clearly has sorne special appeal and 1
1930s. There are no formulas with politicians or businessmen as protagonists, to many people in the culture . It becomes a matter of cultural/
1
though they are social figures of major importance. Farmers, engineers, lwhavio r tha t calls for explanation along with other cultural patterns.
architects, teachers, have all been treated in a number of individual nove!s l.J nfo ítün ately/ to construct an explanation requires us to have sorne
but have never become formulaic heroes . no l io n
of the relation between litera tu re and other aspects of culture, a n a rca
What is the basis on whi ch this process of cultural select io n o ( formula s which rern;-1ins rath er impenet rab le. Are litera ry works lo be lrca tcd pri ·
../

22 23

1
marily as causes or symptoms of other modes of behavior? Or is literature an oversimplified a more complex social process. Much of the more interesting
. integral and autonomous area of human experience without significant recent research has tended to focus on the process of communication rather
effects on political, economic, or other forms of social behavior? Do sorne than its impact, showing the ways in which mass communications are
works of literature become popular primarily because they contain a good mediated by the social groups to which the recipient belongs, or by the
story artistically told or because they embody values and attitudes that their different uses to which communications are put. But the more complex our
audience wishes to see affirmed7 Or does popularity imply sorne kind of view of the process of communication becomes, the less meaningful it is to
psychological wish-fulfillment, the most popular works being those which speak of it in terms of cause and effect.
most effectively help people to identify imaginatively with actions they Another basic weakness of impact theories is that they tend to treat literary
would like to perform but cannot in the ordinary course of events? We or artistic experience like any other kind of experience. Since most of our
certainly do not know at present which, if any, of these assumptions is experience does ha ve an immediate and direct effect on our behavior,
Persuasive arguments can be made for each one. Before attempting however trivial, the impact assume that the same must be true of
to develop a tentative method for exploring the cultural meaning of literary literature. The difficulty with this view is that our experience of literature is
formulas, let us look briefly at what can be said for and against the principal not like any other form of behavior since it concerns events and characters
methods that have been used to explore the relation between literature and that are imagined. Reading about something is obviously not the same thing
other aspects of human behavior. as doing it. Nor are the very strong emotions generated in us by stories
Three main approaches have been widely applied to explain the cultural identical with those emotions in reallife. A story about a monster can arouse
functions or significance of literature. These may be loosely characterized as fear and horror in me, but this is certainly a different emotion than the one I
(1) impact or effect theories; (2) deterministic theories; and (3) symbolic or feel when confronted by sorne actual danger or threat, because I know that
ieflective the-o'des. · ·---------------- --···--··-··------··· ·- · ····· · · the monster exists only in the world of the story and cannot actually harm
l. Impact theories are the oldest, simplest, and most widespread way in me. This does not mean that my emotion will necessarily be less strong than
which men have defined the cultural significance of literature. Such theories it would be in reality. Paradoxically, experienced through literature
assume basically that literary forms and / or contents have sorne direct may sometimes be stronger and
influence on human behavior. Naturally, the tendency of this approach is to -·sffüations. For inst'añ'Cé;fái:r:iné!Tñéd to believe that the fear and pity evoked /
treat literature as a moral or political problem and to seek to determine which b:)Tliteratur·e is more intense for many people than that generated in real-life .''
tterns have e-demofí .
in order to support the former arld suppress or censor the latter. of the reasons we need stories. Yet, no matter how strong the feeling aroused
Socrates suggested in The Republic that it might be necessary to escort the by a work of literature, we do not generally confuse it with reality and
poet to the gates of the city since his works stimulate weakening and therefore it does not affect us as such. There are probably sorne important
corrupting emotions in his audience. Over the centuries, men of varying exceptions to this generalization. Unsophisticated or disturbed people do
religious and political commitments have followed this advice by seeking to apparently sometimes confuse art and reality. The same is apparently true of
censor literary expression on the ground that it would corrupt the people's many younger children. There are many instances where people treat
morals or subvert the state. Today, many psychologists study what effects characters in a soap opera as if they were real people, sending them gifts on
the representation of violence has on the behavior of children. Presumably if their birthdays, grieving when they are in difficulties, asking their advice and
they are able to demonstrate sorne connection between represented violence help. Sorne of this behavior is probably an unsophisticated way of expressing
and aggressive behavior, the widespread clamor against film and television one's great pleasure and interest in a story, but sorne of it may well indicate
violence wíll increase and laws will be passed regulating the content of these that a person does not make our ordinary differentiation between imagina-
media. tion and reality. For such people literature may well have a direct and
The impact approach also dominated mass communications research in its immediate behavioral impact. I suspect that this is particularly the case
earlier years, when sociologists were primarily interested in propaganda and among relatively disturbed children. Not surprisingly, it is here that recent
its effects. Propaganda research sought to show just how and in what ways a studies may indicate a causal connection between represented violence and
literary message could have an effect on attitudes and behavior. This research vioient behavior. Nonetheless, for most people in most situations, the impact
discovered, for the most part, that insofar as any effect could be isolated, app roach assumes much too simple a relationship between literature and
propaganda simply caused people to believe and act in ways they were already nt·her behavior to provide a satisfactory basis for interpreting the cu ltural
predisposed toward. It became evident to most researchers in this area that of any literary phenomenon.
their original quest for a direct link between communiration and hch.winr 11 :-;uch rdleclion s lead us to questinn the id ea that liter;1 ture has a dinTI
- 24

causa l effect on behavior, this does not mean that we must take the position
that literature causes nothing and is only a reflection of reality without 11
- - - - - - - - - - - - 25-

The deterministic approach h as been widely applied to the intepretation of

sorts of literature with interesting if controversia! results ranging from the
--1
further consequence than the evocation of sorne temporary state of feeling. Jipal interpretation of Hamlet to interpretations of the novel as a literary
Such a view seems just as implausible as the notion that art directly and rlection of the bourgeois world view. When used in conjunction with
immediately changes attitudes and behavior. One of my colleagues has often dividua! masterpieces, the deterministic approach has been widely rejected
remarked that all of us carry a collection of story plots around in our heads criticized by literary scholars and historians for its tendencies toward
and that we tend to see and shape life according to these plots. Something like implification and reductionism. And yet the method has gained much
this seems to me to be the basic kernel of truth in the impact theory. Our ider acceptance as a means of dealing with formulaic structures like the
artistic experiences over a perio d of time work on the structure of our rn, the detective story, and the formula romance. Sorne scholars see the
imaginations and feelings and thereby have long-term effects on the way in wle range of formulaic literature asan qpiate for the masses, a ruling-dass
which we understand and respond to reality. Unfortunately, no one has ever for keeping the majority of the people content with· a daily ration
managed to demonstrate the existence of such long-term effects in a of pleasant distracti.ons. Others ha ve interpreted particular formula. s in 1
convincing way, in part because we have never been able to define with any dtMrministic terms: ,tM...dfie.ct.iYe story as a dramatization Qf_the
precision just what are the most common and widespread patterns of literary E:ession the psychol_ogical need to resolve .1?:::1J'lftl
experience. The analysis of formulas may be a promising method of of the pnmal scene. .,
beginning to study long-term effects, for formulas do shape the greater part two tundamental weaknesses . depend fM'
of the literary experiences of a culture. If we can clearly define all the major ;¡n the a priori assumption that a particular social or psychological dynamic 1\
formulas of a particular culture, we will at least know what patterns are the basic cause of human behavior. lf it is the case that, for example, .
being widely experienced . lt may then be possible to construct empírica! resolved childhood sexual conflictsgenerate most adult behavior, then it
studies of the relation between these formulas and the attitudes and values does not really explain anything to show that the reading of detective stories
that individuals and groups show in other forms of behavior. David ;m instance of such behavior. The interpretation does not go beyond the
McClelland and his associates managed to isolate a particular pattern of assumption, except to show how the form of the detective story can
action in stories that they correlated with a basic cultural motive for , be interpreted in this way. But the only means of proving that the detective
achievement. In cross-cultural studies reported in The Achieving Society, . Ulory should be interpreted in this way is through the original assumption.
McClelland suggests that the ;;__gr,•e<ruse--ef-t-his-e-i-I'e-1:1-la-r- Fe-la-t-i-ensh-i-p-b.et-W-een-assumpliorum.clin.t.e.r.preta ti on,
ture or period is correlated with a definite emphasis on ,_, ..Jther can provide proof for the other, unless the assumption can be
achievement in that culture or in a succeeding period. Sorne of the cases · demonstrated by other means. Even then there remains the problem of
McClelland cites could be instances where the stories heard most often by , Ghowing that the experience of literature is the same as other kinds of human
children did have a long-term impact on their behavior as adults; it is, of . (b) The second weakness of most deterministic approaches is their
course, difficult to determine the extent to which these story patterns were l('ndency to reduce literary experience to other forms of behavior. For
causes or symptoms, but this, 1 feel, is a problem that can never be sol ved. If t1xample, most Freudian interpretations treat literary experience as if it could
we can establish correlations between literary patterns and o ther forms of be analogized with free association or dream. Even if we grant that
behavior, we will have done all we can expect to do by way of establishing ¡u\alysis has proved to be a successful approach to the explanation of dream
the long-term impact of literature. The reason for this can be best understood it does not follow that literature is the same or even analogous.
by turning to the second major approach that has been employed to explain l1ídeed, there seems to me _to be as m u eh reason to believe that the making ¡
the cultural significance of literature: the various theories of social or asrc;··a-ssi:i61ti'" 1
psychological determinism. ll-· ......,._dependent,
--- contingent,
----
'
or a mere reflection
--------··- . of other more bas" icsocrafor" ·l¡
.. •...
2. These deterministic theories-the most striking being various applica- f)fl yclNTogicalQrocesses. Certiiñíy many people actas if watching television,
tions of Marxian or Freudian ideas to the explanation of literature-assume W)íí1g-to reading a book were one of the prime ends of \He
that art is essentially a contingent and dependent form of behavior that is r•tther than a means to something else. There are even statistics that mighl
generated and shaped by sorne underlying social or psychological dynamic. :;u¡j)?,cst that people spend far more time telling and enjoying stories than they
In effect, li!;grature becomes a kind of stratagem to cope with the needs of a dn in ual acl ivity . S Of course, the psychological determinist would cl a im
social of 1h;tl li stcni ng toa sto ry is in fact a form of sexual behavior, though statcd in
llteraryexp-ression and of explana tion consists in showin g how ¡¡,¡ ,; w:1y, tfw cl;:lim see ms ex treme.
li terary forms a nd contents are derived from these other processes. lhnc many problems co nncctcd wilh thc psycho;lnalytic

)
26 27

interpretation of literature, it is difficult to dismiss the compelling idea that in determinism by granting a special kind of autonomy to .a. rt.istic expression. ..L--0,....
,''-- literaturei
_._ ........ . ..•.
a_s_!n --unconscious
--- .................... .•..or latent im_pulses find
·····-··· ·······-··· .... - ....... ---- '.. . . ··-··-····- .
sorne disguised
-· .. According to this approach, thework of art consists of ªc.omplex..of.sy.mbols · Al
¡ ___

form of stories may well be one important way in which

--

the individuals in a culture act out unconscious or repressed needs, or express

latent motives that they must give expression to but cannot face openly. m ocles _o f 'Nell
rossib!y one important difference between the mimetic and escapist impulses symbols and
(in literature is that mimetic literature tends toward the bringing of latent or myths--are"'mearis by whkli. a:· culture expresses the feeliñgs;
. / hidden motives into the light of consciousness while escapist literature tends v-a:rues:an-d-ícleas·1l-affacli:es to ·a·t"hiñg ··or-idea. Be cause of . their powú Of .ll
, "'-\ to construct new .disguiseS---Or-tO-.C.Onfirm existil}_g defenses -ªg-ªjmLJbe orderingfeeTirig·s-ancrat"ütiJdes, andmyths shape.th.epercerflons.and VI
' i confm.nta.tiQ.D_of Such a view might be substantiated by the wno Th.e"ffag is a
play Oedipus the King anda detect-ive story. ofa.iiymooLThough.nothing but a piece ()f cloth made.in a certainpattem of
- the play -detection leads to a revelation of hidden guilts in the life of the colors and shapes, the flag has come to imply an attitude of !ove and
protagonist, while in the detective story the inquirer-protagonist and the dedication to the service of one's country that has even, in many instances,
hidden guilt are conveniently split into two separate characters-the detec- motivated individuals to die in an attempt to protect that piece of cloth from
tive and the criminal-thereby enabling us to imagine terrible crimes without desecration. In recent years this symbol has in turn become a counter-symbol
also having to recognize our own impulses toward them. It is easy to genera te for sorne groups of an unreasoning and destructive patriotism, and this
a great deal of pseudopsychoanalytic theorizing of this sort without being implication has motivated other individuals to risk danger and even im-
able to substantiate it convincingly. Nevertheless, I think we cannot ignore prisonment to desecrate the same piece of cloth. The first usage of the flag
the possibility that this is one important factor that underlies the appeal of illustrates a class of symbolism that poses relatively few problems of analysis
literary formulas . and interpretation since the meaning of the symbol is more or less established
Thus, though we may feel that most contemporary deterministic ap- by sorne specific enactment, in this case laws designating a specific design as
proaches oversimplify the significance of literary works by explaining them the national emblem , In this sense the flag has an official status with a
in terms of other modes of experience, I think we cannot deny that stories, designated set of meanings, as indicated by the fact that it is against the law
like other forms of behavior, are determined in sorne fashion. Though artistic to treat the flag in certain ways. But the second usage of the flag as counter-
experience may have an autonomy that present theories of s ol of regressive or false vatriotism is of a different sort altogether. This
are not sufficiently coniplex to allow for, I was not created by specific enactment and has no official status. It
presume that, as human behavior in general is more fully understood, we rmerged as one means of focusing and representing the rejection by certain
will also be better able to generalize about how social and psychological p,roups of actions and attitudes taken in the name of the country and
factors play a role in the process by which stories and other imaginative defended by traditional claims of patriotism. I don't know whether it is
forms are created and enjoyed. In the present state of our knowledge, it seems possible to determine who first conceived of using the flag as a symbol of this
more reasonable to treat social and psychological factors not as single 1;ort, but it is clear that throughout the 1960s, particularly in connection with
determinant causes of literary expression but as elements in a complex the agitation against the Vietnam war, this new symbolism of the flag beca me
process that limits in various ways the complete autonomy of art. In making 11 powerful force, generating strong feelings and even violent actions both in
cultural interpretations of literary patterns, .we should consider them not as f;upport of and in opposition to this new form of symbolism.
simple reflections of social ideologies or psychological needs but as instances These two types of symbolism indicate the great significance that symbols
of a relatively autonomous mode of behavior that is involved in a complex have for culturé and psychology. In fact, the concept of symbolism seems to
dialectic with other aspects of human life. It is reasonable to see collective sorne of the problems we have noted in connection with the impacl
attitudes entering into the artistic works created and enjoyed by a particular and deterministic approaches to explaining the cultural significance of
group as a limit on what is likely to be represented in a story and how it is lilerary experience. The symbolism of the flag suggests how it is possible for
likely to be treated. What we must avoid is an automatic reading into a story HO __b.g_tht()reflect culture and to have sorne role in shaping it. Not
of what we take to be the prevailing cultural attitudes or psychological needs. sorne of the influential studies of American cult{¡re in the
This has been too often the path taken by the deterministic approach and in two decades have been arialyses of symbols and myths primarily as thesc•
its circuiarity it tells us nothing about either the literary work or the culture. ,¡n· expressed various forms of literature. And yet there remain a numbtr
3. A third approach to the cuifu-rai explanation of Tlicra-ry- experienct' -- u( ¡>rohlcms about this approach, many of which have becn effi•clivcly
symbolic or reflec tive theories-rejects thP rnnr<' t'Xlrt'lll<' lorrns nf rcducliv" .i>li< ·¡¡];¡l\'d in a critique of thc rnyth-- symbol approach hy Brucc Kukiick in :1

...
2JJ_
'-"<. ..
recen! issue of American Quarterly. Kuklick defines two kinds of objection: ora myth is simply a generalizing concept for summarizing certain recurrent
the firsl concerns certain confusions in the theoretical formulations of the tterns in writing and other forms of expression. Insofar as it explains
leading myth-symbol interpreters, while the second involves a number of nything, the myth-symbol approach simply indicates that a group of
problems of definition and method. Since the formula approach that 1 am pcrsons has a tendency to express itself in certain patterns:
using in this study is essentially a variation of the myth-symbol method of
interpretation, 1 feel we must examine the most important of Kuklick's Suppose we define an idea not as sorne entity existing "in the mind" but
objections to it. as a disposition to behave in a certain way under appropriate circum-
stances. Similarly, to say that an author has a particular image of the man
'! Essentially, Kuklick argues that certain theoretical confusions in the myth-
.': symbo! approach prevent it from being a meaningful way of connecting on the corner (<;>r uses the man on the corneras a symbol) is to say that in
/ literary expression with other forms of behavior. He points out that the appropriate parts of his work, he writes of a man on the corner in a certain
way. When he simply writes of the man to refer to him, let's say, as the
' myth-symbol critics assume the existence of a collective mind (in which the ·
images, myths, and symbols exist) that is separated from an externa] reality
chap wearing the olue co-a( we cañ
speak of the image of fhe -man,
a!though the use of "image" seems to obfuscate matters. If the man is
(of which the images and symbols are sorne form of mental transmutation). glorified in poem and song as Lincolnesque, we might speak of the author
This separation is necessary, he suggests, in order for the interpreter to as using the man as a symbol, and here the word "symbol" seems entirely
determine which images are real and which are fantastic or distortions or appropriate. For images and symbols to become collective is simply for
va!ue-laden. Unfortunatcly, this separation of interna] mind from externa! certain kinds of writing (or painting) te occur with re!ative frequency in
reality leads the method right into the philosophical trap of the mind-body the work of many authors. 7
problem, as exemplified in what Kuklick calls crude Cartesianism. The result
is as follows: 1 think we must accept Kuklick's contention that insofar as the myth-
aymbol approach assumes a direct connection between literary symbols and
A crude Cartesian has two options. First, he can maintain his dualism but · other forms of behavior su eh as specific política! or social actions, it is highly
then must give up any talk about the externa] world. How can he know questionable. To explain the American course of action in Vietnam as the
that any image refers to the externa! world? Once he stipulates that they are cffect of the American western myth is to indulge in speculations about
on different planes, it is impossible to bring them into any meaningful rela- causal connections that can never be demonstrated or substantiated and that
tion; in fact, it is not even clear what a relationship could conceivably be probably assume an oversimplified view of the relations between art and
like. Descartes res o rted t_a_th_e_pineaLglan.cLas..tlt€-S0H-FEe-a-HEI-agffi-t- ef-m-i-ncl
body interaction, but this does not appear to be an out for the (myth-
myths and symbols found in written (andother forms of expressive) behavior
symbol Ínterpreters]. Second, the Cartesian can assimilate what we
normally take to be facts about the externa! world-for example, my ca n only be understood as a generalization about that specific kind of
seeing the man on the corner-to entities like images, symbols and 8ehavior seems contradictory to experience, for we can all think of many
myths . ... Facts and images both become states of consciousness. If the ways in which our lives have been shaped by the symbolic or mythical
Cartesian does this, he is committed to a form of idealism. Of course, this patterns we have encountered in various forms of literature. The problem is
maneuver will never be open to .. . Marxists, but it al so provides problems to arrive at sorne better and more complex understanding of the way in which
for the [myth-symbol interpreters]: they have no immediate way of deter- literature interacts with other aspects of life, for I think we can grant that
mining which states of consciousness are "imaginative" or "fantastic" or imaginative symbols do not have a direct and immediate causal effect on
"distorted" or everi "value-laden" for there is no standard to which the other forms of behavior. Otherwise the impact approach to interpreting the
varying states of consciousness may be referred. On either of these two cultural significance of literature would long since ha ve proved more fruitful.
options sorne resort to platonism is no't strange. A world of suprapersonal The resolution of the problems posed by these criticisms of the myth-
ideas which we all share and which we may use to order our experiences
symbol approach líes, I think, in replacing the inevitably vague and am-
is a reasonable supposition under the circumstances. But this position,
although by no means absurd, is not one to which we wish to be driven if biguous notion of myth with a conception of literary structures that can be
we are setting out a straightforward theory to explain past American rnore precisely defined and are consequently less dependent on such implicit
behavior. 6 rnetaphysical assumptions as that of a realm of superpersonal ideas, which
l(uklick rightly objects to . One such conception is that of the conventional
According to Kuklick, the only solution to this dilemma is to give up using s !(l!'Y pa ttern or formula . This notidn has, in my view, two great advantages
symbols and myths to explain al! kinds of behavior. Instead, he says, we ov_cr the notion of myth . First of al!, the concept of formula us to
shouJd postulate mental COnstructs like images and on!y <JS a means .l!!cnd In the whole rather than to any -given element that is
of describing a disposition to write in a certain way. In o!h('r wnrd s, ;¡ !;ymhol ;¡rl>itr;lril y sc lcctcd. A'¡ myt h_can be almost anythin g-a particular type of
,,

30

onearn<?ng many ideas, a certain kind of action-but a as a demonstration that these symbols are somehow directly related to other
essentiall}'"a set of generalizations about the way in which all the elements of . forms of behavior and belief. Yet there are certainly cultural limits on the
ppt together, Thus it calls our to the whole way in which symbols can be manipulated for artistic purposes. Thus our
of"the story rather wñafever""parts maybe germaile to the examination of the dialectic between artistic forms and cultural materials .
myths we are pursuing. This feature of the concept Jeads to its second s.b?uld reveal somethi_r:_g
advantage: to connect a mythical pattern with the rest of human behavior predisposed to think abog_Ltheir lives. ·
requires tenuous and debatable assumptions, while the relation between ·---As an example of the complex -re"i<rtionship between literary symbols and
formulas and other aspects of life can be explored more directly and altitudes and beliefs that motiva te other forms of behavior, we might look at
empirically as a question of why certain groups of people enjoy certain the role of poli ti cal and social ideologies in the spy story. Be cause of its
stories. While the psychology of literary response is certainly not without its setting, the spy story almost inevitably brings política] or social attitudes into
mysteries, it seems safe to a_ss1,1me that people choose to read certain stories conflicting poÍitical forces are an indispensable backgroundl o? the
beca use tfiey enjoy This-at-least gives us a straightforward if not simple antagonism between the spy-hero and his enemy. Thus, in the espionage
psychological connection between .literature and the rest of life. adventures written by John Buchan and other popular writers of the period
Beginning with the phenomenon of enjoyment, we can sketch out a between World Wars I and II-"Sapper," Dornford Yates, E. Phillips
tentative theory for the explanation of the emergence and evolution of Oppenheim, and Saxe Rohmer, for instance-one dominant theme is that of
literary formulas. The basic assumption of this theory is that conventional the threat of racial subversion. The British Empire and its white, Christian
story patterns work beca use they bring into an effective conventional order a civilization are constantly in danger of subversion by villains who represent
large variety of existing cultural and artistic interests and concerns . This other races or racial mixtures. Saxe Rohmer's Fu Manchu and his hordes of
approach is different from traditional forms of social or psychological little yellow and brown conspirators against the safety and purity of English
determinism in that it rejects the concept of a single fundamental social or society are only an extreme example of the pervasive racial symbolism of this
psychological dynamic in favor of viewing the appeal of a conventional period. It is tempting to interpret these stories as reflections of a virulent
literary pattern as the result of a variety of cultural, artistic, and psycho- racism on the part of the British and American public. There is no doubt
logical interests. Successful story patterns like the western persist, according sorne truth in this hypothesis, especially since we can find all kinds of other
to this view, not because they embody sorne particular ideology or evidence revealing the power of racist assumptions in the political attitudes
. . . ,_ . n---
logical dynamic, but because they maximize a great manv such
a pattern, we cannot and Rohmer were actually motivated to embark on racist crusades, for it was
expect to arrive at a single key interpretation. Instead, we must show how a in Germany rather than England and America that racism became a
large number of interests and concerns are brought into an effective order or '<iominant political dogma. Even in Buchan's case, many of the attitudes
unity. One important way of looking at this process is through the dialectic of ('xpressed in his novels are far more extreme than those we find in his
cultural and artistic interests. In order to crea te an effective story, . certain nonfiction and autobiographical works, or in his public life and statements. It
archetypal .. t0;- is a little difficult to know just what to make of this. Was Buchan concealing
.J.§Eli:!&::-ªLmªr.:Y patterns must .be hi s more extreme racist views behind the moderate stance of a politician? Or
.specific images, themes, . and that are current in is the racial symbolism in his novels less a reflection of his actual views than a
f partic.!:!Jar cuÜÜres"ándpetiods.TO explainthé way in whkh cultural imagery means of intensifying and dramatizing conflicts? Umberto Eco in a brilliant
f and coñveñtfo.ñ al-sfory___patrerns are fitted together constitutes a partía! 1:ssay on the narrative structure of the James Bond novels suggests that some-
! interpretation of the cultural significance of these formulaic combinations.
thing like this tnay well be the case with Ian Fleming's "racism."
This process of interpretation reveals both certain basic concerns that Fleming intends, with the cynicism of the disillusioned, to build an effec-
domínate a particular culture and also something about the way in which tive narrative apparatus. Todo so he decides to rely upon the rnost secure
that culture is predisposed to order or deal with those concerns. We mus and universal principies, and puts into play archetypal elements which are
remember, however, that since artistic experience has a certain degree of precisely those that ha ve pro ved successful in traditional tales . ... [There-
autonomy from other forms of behavior, we must always distinguish . fore] Fleming is a racialist in the sense that any artist is one, if, to represent
between the way symbols are ordered in stories and the way they may be the devil, he depicts him with oblique eyes; in the sense that a nurse is one
ordered in other forms of behavior. To this extent, I think Kuklick is correct who, wishing to frighten children with the bogey-man, suggests that he is
in suggesting that the existence of symbols and myths in <J rt c<tnnot be taken hh ck. . Fl emi ng seeks elementary opposition: to personify primitive and
.
.

32

forces he has recourse to popular opmwn .... A man who indication that much of the network of assumptions on which his stories rest
ehooscs to write in this way is neither Fascist nor racialist; he is only a
is no longer shared.
<.:y ni<:, a deviser of tales for general consumption. 8
These considerations suggest the importance of differentiating literary
As in the case of Fleming, many apparently ideological expressions in Buchan imperatives from the expression of cultural attitudes. In order to define the
may a rise more from dramatic than propagandistic aims . Therefore we must basic network of assumptions that reflect cultural values we cannot simply
exercise sorne caution in our inferences about the social and political views take individual symbols and myths at their face value but must uncover those
that the author and audience of such stories actually believe in . Most basic patterns that recur in many different individual works and even in
audiences would appear to be capable of temporarily tolerating a wide range many different formulas. If we can isolate those patterns of symbol and
of political and social ideologies for the sake of enjoying a good yarn. As theme that appear in a number of different formulas popular in a certain
Raymond Durgnat has suggested, recent spy films with ideological implica- period, we will be on firmer ground in making a cultural interpretation, since
tions ranging from reactionary-ro liberal have oeén highly successfúl. Or to those patterns characteristic of a number of aifferent formulas presumably
take a different example of the same sort of phenomenon, a number of recent reflect basic concerns and valuations that influence the way people of a
black detective films and westerns, which portray whites as predominantly particular period prefer to fantasize. In addition, the concept of the formula \ -
evil, corrupt, or helpless, ha ve been quite successful with substantial segments as a synthesis of cultural symbols, themes, and myths with more universal '¡
of the white as well as the black public. story archetypes should help us to see where a literary pattern has been '
But even if we grant that the melodrama tic imperatives of formula stories shaped by the needs of a particular archetypal story form and to differentiate :1
tend to call forth more extreme expressions of política! and moral values than this from those elements that are expressions of the network of assumptions :
either author or audience fully accept, there still remains a need for author of a particular culture . Thus the spy story as a formula that depends on the j
and audience to share certain basic feelings about the world. If this sharing archetype of heroic adventure requires a .2asic3ntagonism between hl'!LQ.and-j.
does not occur at sorne fundamental leve!, the audience's enjoyment of the villain. The specific symbols or ideological themes used to dramatize this ·
story will be impeded by its inability to accept the structure of probability, to · reflect the network of assumptions of a particular culture at a
feel the appropriate emotional responses, and to be fascinated by the primary particular time. The creation of a truly intense antagonism may well involve
interests on which the author depends. An audience can enjoy two different pushing sorne of these cultural assumptions to extremes that would not be
stories that imply quite different political and social ideologies, so long as accepted by most people in areas of life other than fantasy.
-the-m.y.th.,s..y:mhoL approa.ch_co.Íne_
in explaining why the same public might enjoy Our Man Flint, a spy film down toan attack on the way in which myths and symbols ha ve been defined
with very conservative political overtones, and The Silencers, which is far and interpreted. He argues that most interpreters.ltaY.e._deffue.d
more liberal in its ideology: ' .02: central myths of the American past in terms of concerns the ·f

The political overtones of the movies appear only if you extrapolate from
have thereby commrtted tfíe historical fallacy of v•P'
presentism·. He also points out that they have based their analysis almost ·
the personal sphere to the political, which most audiences don't. The . 1
···ón tre y on printed literary materials that can be said to relate to only a v
distinct moral patterns would be more likely to become ccinscious,
although neither film pushed itself to a crunch. In other words, the two rninority of the population. Indeed, sorne scholars have based their interpre" ,;;,,
moral patterns can coexist; both films can be enjoyed by the same spec- tations on a small number of masterpieces which, despite the argument that
tator, could have been written by the same writer. Both exploit the same great writers have a unique capacity to articulate central cultural myths,
network of assumptions. 9 cannot really be said to reflect more than the interests and attitudes of thc
elite audiences who read them. Whether or not these criticisms apply to the
This "network of assumptions" is probably an expression, first, of the basic myth-symbol interpreters, and I must confess that they do in a number of
values of a culture, and on another level, of the dominant moods and instances, I think they are largely obviated by the method of formula
concerns of a particular era, or of a particular subculture. That Buchan is still analysis. First of al!, a formula is by definition a pattern characteristic of the
enjoyed with pleasure by sorne contemporary readers indica tes that there are widest possible range of literature and other media. Therefore, it does not
enough continuities between British culture at the time of World War I and
involve drawing cultural inferences from a few select masterpieces in a
the present day to make it possible for sorne persons to accept Buchan's
medium tha t does not cover th e en tire culture . The major formulas we will
system of probabilities and values at least temporarily for the sake of the
studying are basic structural patterns in mass media like the movics and
story . Tha t Buchan is no longer widely popular, however, is pres um ably an
tclc vision as well as in printed literature. Therefore, th ey a re understood and
_)

34
35
:,.,

byÚ\c'gr(ltH majority of the population at one time or another. In ncw black films are simply versions of traditional formulas like the western,
addlUÓIÍ;Whlle tlw concept of a symbol or myth is vague enough that it can the hard-boiled detective story, and the gangster saga with an urban black
In many different ways, the study of formulas has a built-in and protagonists. These formulas enable the new black self-conscious-
doforúa.l · flgainst "presentisrn" for it forces us not simply to explain the . ness to find expression in conventional forms of fantasy not significantly
mcwnJng of a single symbol or myth, but to account for the relationship different in their assumptions and value structures from the sort of adventure
between many different myths and symbols. In doing this, I feel we are [itories that have been enjoyed by American audiences for severa! decades ... .
inevitably forced to come doser to the original intention. While it may weii The new black cowboy or gangster or detective hero is the same basic hero 1 ¡
be possible for us to treat the symbolic figure of Cooper's Leatherstocking in type in the same kind of action. Thus, in this case, the evolution of formulas ¡
such a way asto lose track of the original meaning he had for Cooper, I think has simply assimilated black needs for sorne sort of distinctive artistic _,..,
that if we insist upon reading the Leatherstocking tales in the context of al! expression into the shapes of conventional fantasies. It would appear, then,
the various characters and sittJations that Cooper places-- him in and then that one basic cultural ímpetus ·of formulaic literature is toward the main-
1lpon-C:omparing al! this with later embodiments of the western formula, we t;enance of conventional patterns of imaginative expression. Indeed, the very
will certainly find it far more difficult to misread Leatherstocking's original · ract that a formula is an often repeated narrative or drama tic pattern implies
meaning for Cooper. The analysis of a formula always involves us in the lhe function of cultural stability. Formulaic evolution and change are one
exploration of a literary whole, while themes, symbols, or myths are usually process by which new interests and values can be assimilated into conven-
only parts of larger patterns. To select a theme or symbol out of a larger l.lonal imaginative structures. This process is probably of particular im-
whole invariably has an arbitrary aspect that the analysis of formulas avoids. portance in a discontinuous, pluralistic culture like those of modern indus-
To understand more fully the relation between artistic and cultural trial societies. Therefore, literary formulas tend to flourish in such a society .
interests involved in the creation of formulas, we need to know more about l would like to suggest four interrelated hypotheses about the dialectic
the range of cultural functions as well as the distinctive artistic qualities of belween formulaic literature and the culture that produces and enjoys it: .
formulaic literature. In an earlier section of this discussion, I suggested that l. stories _existing _interests a_nd attitudes by a
the special artistic quality of formulaic literature was the result of striking a lmagmary world that !S ahgned w!th these mterests and attitudes. Thus ¡.· -
balance, appropriate to the intended audience, between the sense of reality or westerns and hard-boiled detective stories affirm the view that true justice ¡1
mimesis essential to art of any kind and the characteristics of escapist deoends on the indi.Yidual rather than the law by showing
imaginative experience: an emphasis on
on the creation of an integral, slightly removed lnwless m en. By confirming existing definitions of the world, literary formulas
imaginative world, and on intense, but temporary emotional effects like help to maintain a culture's ongoing consensus about the nature of reality and
suspense, surprise, and horror, always controlled by a certainty of resolu- mora1ity. We assume, therefore, that one aspect of the structure of a formula
tion. Effective formulaic literature depends on a maximizing of this escapist ¡¡; this process of sorne con:entional view. . . \ ..
dimension within a framework that the audience can still accept as having 2. Formulas rfS.ohée...tens.I.ons and ambigUihes resultmg from the confhctmg (ZJ
sorne connection with reality . interests of different groups within the culture or from ambiguous attitudes ¡- .
What, then, can be said of the cultural functions of formulaic literature? I toward particular values. The action of a formula story will tend to move j
think we can assume that formulas become collective cultural products from an of _ ª
Jo ... ha@onization of thesc (
because they successfu!Iy articulate a pattern of fantasy that is at Ieast co nflicts. To use the example of the western again, the action of legitimated i
acceptable to if not preferred by the cultural groups who enjoy them. violence not only affirms the ideology of individualism but also resolv<!S
Formulas enable the members of a grdup to share the same fantasies. Literary l('nsions between the anarchy of individualistic impulses and the communal
patterns that do not perform this function do not become formulas. When a ideals of law and order by making the individual's violent action an ultima te
group's attitudes undergo sorne change, new formulas arise and existing defense of the community against the threat of anarchy. . ·'
formulas develop new themes and symbols, because formula stories are 3. Formulas enable the audience to explore in fantasy the boundary (
created and distributed alrnost entirely in terms of commercial exploitation . between the permitted and the forbidden anafo-ex-perlen.ce in a carefully : .....
Therefore, allowing for a certain degree of inertia in the process, the C\lntrolled way the possibility of stepping across this boundary. This seems to :
production of formulas is Iargely dependent on audience response . Existing he pree minently the function of villains in formulaic structures: to exprcss ,
formulas commonly evolve in response to new audience interests. A good ¡·xplorc, and finally to reject those actions which are forbidden, but whi ch.
example of this process is the recent success with urban audiences of a new iH'causc o f certain othcr cultural patterns, a re st rongly temrl'ing. For
kind of black-oriented, action-adventure film . The great majority of llws<· •·'<.llll¡>lc, nincleenth -ccntury American culture ge ncrally lrcalcd 111i x
- 36_ __

tures as taboo , particularly between whites, Orientals, blacks, and 1ndians.' Two
There were even deep feelings against intermarriage between certain white
groups. Yet, at the same time, there were many things that made such
mixtures strongly tempting, not least the universal pleasure of forbidden
fruit. We find a number of formulaic structures in which the villain embodies Notes toward a Typology
explicitly or implicitly the threat of racial mixture. Another favorite kind of
villain, the grasping tycoon, suggests the temptation actually acceded to by of Literary Formulas
many Americans to take forbidden and illicit routes to wealth. Certainly the
twentieth-century American interest in the gangster suggests a similar
temptation. Formula stories permit the individual to indulge his curiosity
about these actioris without endangering the cultural patterns that reject
. them. One of the important problems connected with the study of literary formulas
¿¡¡ 4. Finally, literary formulas assist in the process of in is to arrive at sorne understanding of the general story types that underlie the
diversity of formulaic constructions. 1 I suggested in the first chapter that [r
Y -values to traditional
-- imaginative constructs.
.
1 have already given the example
of the new black action films as an instance of this process. As 1 shall show in particular formulas clothe cultural images, myths, and themes in archetypal
another chapter, the western has undergone almost a reversa] in values over , story forms that appear to be transcultural if not universal. Almost every 1
the past fifty years with respect to the representation of 1ndians and pioneers, commentator on the western has noted at one point or another the analogy
but much of the basic structure of the formula and its imaginative vision of between the heroic cowboy and the chivalrous knight. Though the specific
the meaning of the West has remained substantially unchanged. By their images and themes of the knightly romance are quite different from those of
capacity to assimilate new meanings like t_his, literary formulas ease the_ the western, they are both forms of heroic adventure. Consequently the basic

tt transition between old and new._y,¿a}LS_QÜ.2.<.PX.e.s.sing-.tbl!:!gs and

_ . to cultural continuity. .
This analysis of the major ways in which literary formulas relate to the
tltructures of action, the kinds of
represent, have many things in common. There are severa! reasons why it is
and situations they

important to gain sorne clear definition of these archetypal structures. First,

processes of culture is necessarily speculative. And yet it does provide us with because they underlie so many different kinds of structures
·¡:rro-bab-l-y-reHeet-1:1as-ie-¡:>syt-.RB-1eg-iGa-l-i-ntez:ests-and_nee.ds_an_d_th.u.s._gn_gi ve us
formulaic literature and in investigations of the ways in which creators and ín sight into the woí-kíngs ofthe Second, to define these underlying
audiences relate to these formulas. Since this study is concerned with defining forms is a means of clarifying what the artistic boundaries and potentials are
and analyzing sorne of the major formulas, I must leave the latter kind of lor different sorts of formulas. Such definitions can lead us to a better
inquiry largely in abeyance, though I hope that the preceding outline of a nppreciation of the artistic problems involved in the creation of formula
theory of the cultural function of literary formulas will be put to the test by literature. Finally, by discovering these more universal story types, we will
social psychologists or mass communications researchers. be better able to differentiate what is characteristic of an
individual culture or period from those aspects of formulas that reflect more
;;e::=_--f-ra <· -h ·a n o Ld universal psychological and artistic imperatives.
lf we look at the enormous variety of literary formulas, certain general
principies seem to emerge. Many types of stories center on heroic action, and 1
t hese are quite different from stories where the chief interest Hes-in ho; a gid [
rneets a boy and !oye is born. Still another kind of story focuses on the
unraveling of sorne sort of mystery, and while it may well contain elements of ·:,
both heroism and romance: "these are clearly subordina te to the search for
l ruth. Other types of stories derive their fascination from the imaginary
cncounter with sorne monster or situation offantasy. And what do we make -' '
nf such highly successful dramas as those typically found in soap operas or in
where different individuals undergo many divcrsc
¡,"·rn s uf suffering ancl unhappiness? Is there any basis on which we can
... .,,,tllll for tlw enwrgcncc of formal arclwly¡ws?
1

not, in any sense, a moral fantasy . A James Bond adventure, on the other
()t'l(1it:l lémpted to see these different archetypes as of such
hand, though it exists in a world that materially resernbles our own at alrnost
lil:l'r<:lry genres as tragedy, comedy, romance, and satire. Thus, a
every point, presents a protagonist of extraordinary capacities in a set of
" ,,, might be seen as a pcipi.ilarform of tragedy, -the. western can
circurnstances that enable hirn to face the rnost insuperable obstacles and
y be treated as a contemporary forrn of the romance. Though this
surmount thern without lasting harrn to hirnself, either rnorally or physically.
roach is doubtless valid in a general way, it does not take into account
This is clearly a special forrn of moral fantasy.
ee rtain special characteristics of forrnulaic literature that tend to differentiate Mimesis and moral fantasy establish two peles between which there exists a {
il from what we cornmonly refer to as "serious" or "high" literature.
rather cornplex continuurn. Many rnajor rnimetic works contain elernents of \
Formulas are more __ and more clearly oriented toward
moral many of the rnost effective escapist fictions rnix a large -'
sorne form of escapisrn, -the creation of an imaginary world in which fictional
proportion of human actuality with their fantasies of her9i_sm a more
characters the reader's interests and concern transcend the
exdtiñg, glarriórous,
boundaries and fru1>trªtions that the reader ordinarily experiences. The hero
glance at a variety of the rnajor forrnulaic types suggests that their basic
successfully overcomes his enernies and surrnounts great dangers; the lover
structures involve sorne kind of moral fantasy. Therefore, it seerns possible )
has his or her desires fully met; the long-suffering saint is finally rewarded.
that an analysis of the moral fantasies underlying sorne of our major -
We rnight loosely distinguish between formula stories and their "serious"
forrnulaic types rnight provide us with the basis for a typology of formulaic
counterparts on the ground that the latter tend toward sorne kind of
encounter with our sense of the lirnitations of reality, while formulas ernbody structures.
In rnaking this analysis I have chosen, for the sake of sirnplicity, to
moral fantasies of a world more exciting, more fulfilling, or more benevolent
eliminate frorn consideration the various forrns of cornedy. The reason for ''"·
than the one we inhabit. In these irnaginary worlds we come temporarily this selection is twofold. First of all, to add the --whole range of comic
nearer to our hearts' desires and escape frorn the limiting reality around us by
formulas to what is already an extraordinarily broad and diverse rnass of
imaginatively identifying with characters who have an unusually great literary rnaterials would rnake our task of classification and analysis
ability to deal with the problerns they face, or who are so favored by luck or infinitely more cornplicated than it already is. Second, cornedy poses a
providence that they eventually overcorne their difficulties and "live happily special problern in connection with the discussion of moral fantasy since even
ever after_" At least until we need another story . . the most rnirnetic comedies ernploy conventions that can be seen from certain
-;;.. i Nqt that formula literature is totally nonmirnetic) A rnp_ral thiolt is fanrasy: me nappy tn
incredible to the point that it cannot 2:enerate sorne
:Iisbel!ef escape. This -is one point where of the fool, the defeat of the disproportionate . Indeed, if Elder
analysis of the basic structure of cornedy is correct and the comic effect is
formulas are very closely tied to particular cultures and audiences, for it is the clerived frorn our perception that a circumstance thought to be dangerous and
attitudes of particular groups that determine the rudirnentary margin of threatening is not so in actuality, then cornedy as a whole bears a different
credibility necessary even for the purposes of escape. Formula creators must relation to escapist fantasies than the variety of noncornic structures . To
2

produce different kinds of heroes for different audiences. Children can accept
avoid getting into these cornplex and difficult questions, I will confine my
a Lone Ranger, but, for rnost adults, such a character is too pure and attention to the typology of such noncornic formulas as the detective story,
superheroic to serve the purposes of effective moral fantasy. For many
the spy story, the western, and the gothic romance.
nineteenth-century Arnericans it was plausible to ascribe certain events to Looking at the whole range of story-forrnulas, we can, it seems to me,
providential action in a way that is totally unacceptable to conternporary discern five primary moral fantasies under which all the formulas I arn
audiences. familiar with can be subsurned. l will first list these fantasies and then try to
Moral fantasy can also be distinguished frorn the more mirnetic forrn of define thern more specifically: Adventure; Romance; Mystery; Melodrama;
physical or material fantasy in which the writer imagines a world rnaterially
different frorn ordinary reality, but in which the characters and the situations Alíen Beings or States.
they confront are still governed by the general truths of human experience.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, for exarnple, takes place in a world where Adventure
objeds, time, and space are not governed by the ordinary laws of nature , yet The central fanta sy of the adventure story is that of the hero-individual or
the protagonist's behavior seerns rernarkably true to our understanding of the group-ove rcom ing obstacles and dangers and accomplishing sorne impor-
psyche of a young lady of her age, while many fantastic characters and l:lnl ;¡nd mission. Oftcn, though not a!ways, the hcro's tri als are 1he
- episodes-ca-st an 1romc or satiric light on human nature as we know it. Alice is
10
41

· result of the machinations of a villain, and, in addition, the hero the current catalog of adventure formulas or to pass into another area of the
receives as a kind of side benefit, the favors of one or more attractive YO\ culture. Thus, tales of knightly adventure, still widely popular in the
· _!adiefh rheinterrlay - witntn:e-·vmain a-na:ilie-- by nineteenth century, no longer play much of a role in adult adventure .
attendant damsels are more in the nature of frosting on the cake. The true literature. More recent cultural situations-crime and its pursuit, war, the (/ >
focus of interest in the adventure story is the character of the hero and the West, international espionage, sports-have largely usurped the battle with 1:
: nature of the obstacles he has to overcome. This is the simplest and perhaps dragons and the quest for the grail.
the oldest and widest in appeal of all story types. lt can clearly be traced back
to the myths and epics of earliest times and has been cultivated in sorne form Romance
or other by almost every human society. At least on the surface, the appeal of
this form is obvious. It presents a character, with whom the audience The adventure story is perhaps the simplest fantasy archétype. Appearing
identifies, passing through the most frightening pe:dls to sorne at alllevels of culture, it seems to appeal to all classes and types of person;
triumph. Perhaps the basic moral fantasy implicit in this type of story is that though particularly to men. The feminine equivalent of the adventure story is f
of victory over death, though there are also all kinds of subsidiary triumphs the romance. This is not to say that women do not read adventure stories or \
available depending on the particular cultural materials employed: the that romances cannot be popular with men; there is probably no exclusive ·
triumph over injustice and the threat of lawlessness in the western; the saving sexual property in these archetypes of fantasy. Nonetheless, the fact that
of the nation in the spy story; the overcoming of fear and the defeat of the most adventure formulas have male protagonists while most romances have
enemy in the combat story. While the specific characterization of the hero femále central characters does suggest a basic affinity between the different i
depends on the cultural motifs and themes that are embodied in any specific Hcxes and these two story types . '
1 adventure formula, there are in general two primary ways in which the hero The crucial defining characteristic of romance is not that it stars a female but
· can be characterized: as a superhero with exceptional strength or ability or as tha t its organizing action is the development of a love relationship, usually
"one of us," a figure marked, at least at the beginning of the story, by bctween aman anda woman. Because this is the centralline of development,
flawed abilities and attitudes presumably shared by the audience. Both of t. he romance differs from the adventure story and the mystery. Adventure _.._
these methods of characterization foster strong, but slightly different, ties of utories, more often than not, contain a interest, but one distinctly
identification between hero and audience. In the case of the superhero, the r.ubsidiary to the hero's triumph over dangers and obstacles. One might put it
principie of identification is like that between child and parent and involves that.Tn the adventure story the relation between hero and villain is really
-the-comp+e,cfe·e-1-in-g-s<:rhmvious sul5miSSion ana-amDiguous lave characteris- more important than the hero's involvement with a woman. Romances often 1
tic of that relationship. This kind of treatment of the heFO is mest charac- r;o ntain elements of adventure, but the dangers function as a means of :
teristic of the adventure stories constructed for children and young people. chal!enging and then cementing the love relationship. For example, in a i
The superhero also frequently embodies the most blatant kind of sexual rccent True Confessions story- "Raped-Then Thrown in the Drunk Tank
symbolism. More sophisticated adults generally prefer the "ordinary" hero to Die" -a young man tells the grim story of how on the eve of their wedding
figure who is dominant in the fictions of those who are usually considered the ld s sweetheart was raped and then underwent a series of further sufferings.
best writers of "grown-up" adventure stories such as H. Rider Haggard, But the significance of this episode líes in the way it brings the two lovers toa
Robert Louis Stevenson, or, to take a more recent example, Alistair dceper and more secure love for each other-"For both of us, our wedding
MacLean. Sorne of the most popular writers of this type have managed to ni ght was as perfectas any mortal man and woman could hope for-tender,
combine the superhero with a certain degree of sophistication as in the James passionate, wild, beautiful." 3
Bond adventures of Ian Fleming. The "gothic romance" or "contemporary gothic," one of the most popular
Beyond the two general adventure patterns of the superhero and the prese nt-day formulas, makes extensive use of elements of adventure and
ordinary hero, specific adventure formulas can be categorized in terms of the rny stery. Unlike a straight mystery formula such as the detective story where
location and nature of the hero's adventures. This seems to vary considerably ihP sol ution of the mystery is the dominant line of action, the gothic romance
from culture to culture, presumably in relation to those activities that uses mystery as an occasion for bringing two potential lovers together, for
different periods and cultures see as embodying a combinatión of danger, pb cing temporary obstacles in the path of their relationship; and ultimately
'significance, and interest. New periods seem to generate new adventure lnr m<1king its solution a means · of clearing up the separation between the
formulas while to sorne extent still holding on to earlier modes . Adventure
< r L ( \ '-:::.C--1 V\../(/0<.. ' !A./ VV'>.,V V 1 \A / \ .. 3
43
42

p{:rmanent, overcorrting all obstacles and difficulties. Though the usual desirable and rational solution, for this is the underlying moral fantasy
outcome is a permanently happy marriage, more sophisticated types of !ove -expre-55ed-in-thisTorm .)
story sometimes end in the death of one or both of the lovers, but always in Unlike adventure and romance, which have spawned a great multiplicity ·· 1
such a way as to suggest that the !ove relation has been of lasting and of formulas, mystery has been far more impor.t ant as a \
permanent impact. This characteristic differentiates the mimetic form of the adventure stories, romances, and melodramas than as a · dominant formulaic
romantic tragedy from the formulaic romance. In works like Romeo and priñciple-iiiTts_o.w n right, with the single exception of one of the greatest and 1
fulíet, Tristan and !solde, or Last Tango in París, the intensity of the lovers' rnost fruitful of all formulas, that of the classical detective story. Most other -"
passion is directly related to the extent to which their !ove is doomed. It formulas involving a good deal of mystery-such as the hard-boiled detective
simply cannot continue to exist in the fictional situation either for social or story, the secret agent story, the gothic romance, or the crime thriller- tend
psychological reasons and consequently the passion itself brings about the to shade over into adventure or romance, though mystery remains a basic
death of one or both of the lóvers. In a romance like Erich Segal's Lovg__Story, an impol'-tánt secondary- principle of the form. The_rea;son for this . -
1,
the passion is perfect in ítse11 andredeems the lovers. It is not the inability of is probably quite simple. P.ursued as G!n end .. ( \
!ove to triumph over obstacles that brings about the death of Jenny, but a secrets is primarily an intellectual, reasoning activity. However much it may _)
biological accident. The result is sentimental rather than tragic; we feel sad 5etne consclc5us expresslóii- of-·ñoñmfellecTua1 -·or:· unconscious interests-
that something so perfect cannot continue, but we do not confront the basic sorne psychoanalytical critics have suggested that our fascination with
irreconcilability of !ove ':Yith._9ther responsibilities and needs, which is the mysteries can ultimately be traced to our repressed feelings about the primal
essential tension of rom4ntic . .... --. ·-- scene-the actual narrative of a mystery involves the the
Since romance is a faritasy.,. bf of lo;Jrpost romantic rnaking of from these and the attempt to place the various
formulas center on the overcomingotsornecoml:JiñaHoñ of social or clues in their rational place in a complete scheme of cause andeffect. Such -
psychological barriers. A favorite formulaic plot is that of the poor girl who and ..
falls in !ove with sorne rich or aristocratic man, which might be cailed the . sohül..O.U,.lSJtecessanly of greatest mterest to those md1v1duals whose \/A.()..A
Cinderella formula. Or there is the Pamela formula, in which the heroine background and training have predisposed them to give special interest and
overcomes the threat of meaningless passion in order to establish a complete ¡valriaflóntolhe·lffocesses--ortnought\ Others, perhaps the majority o(
!ove relationship. Another more contemporary formula is that of the career pcoplé;-Will rather qülél<Iyfose lñteres.Cin a structure that is predominantiy
girl who rejects !ove in favor of wealth or fame, only to discover that love rational and will prefer their mysteries served up as a sauce to heroic or erotic
action. Used in this way, mystery can mtenslty and compl
There seems doubt that_ most modern romance formulas are essen- __or of the s1:1ccessf{¡l of
tially affirmations of the ideals of monogamous marriage and feminine suspense and uncertainty and adding further interest to the final resolution.
domesticity. No doubt the coming age of women's liberation will invent Because of the basic intellectual demands it makes on its audience, the
significantly new formulas for romance, if it do es not lead to a total rejection pure mystery has become one of the and explicitly ar.tful .l
of the moral fantasy of love triumphant. Just as one can see the increasing of formulaic types. Yet its limitations are also great. While the classical )
significance of antiheroic versions of such traditional adventure formulas as detective story was a preeminent type of formulaic literature between the end
the western and the spy story, so the recent success of antiromantic romances of the nineteenth century and the time of World War Il, and still remains an
like John Fowles's The French Lieutenant's Woman may presage the develop- irnportant formula, it has not shown the same capacity for change and -¡
meht of an antiromantic formula. development as the other major formulaic types . lt is possible that the i·
hcyday of the pure mystery is past. And yet, asan important element in other
(ormulaic types, mystery will undoubtedly continue to be a basic formulaic
Mystery
resource.
. The fundamental principie of the mystery story is the investigation and The mystery shares many characteristics with the story of imaginary \
beings or states and thus the term is often applied to ghost stories, to tales of
\. the discovery usually leading to sorne for
witFlWnoiñ the reader identifies . The discovery of secrets demonic possession or of madness. But there is a fundamental difference that
with bad consequences for the protagonist, as in the case of Oedipus, is shnuld be borne in mind. Thé mystery of the imaginary being or state is not
indeed the result of a mystery structure, but a use of this structure outside the rl'solvcd. lnstead, the human protagonist adapts himself in sorne fashion to

)
45

there are ghost stories in which the alien being turns out to be a trick or a seems to be governed by sorne benevolent moral principie. It is nota tragic or_j
deception with the mysterious manifestations being given a rational explana- o naturalistic world beca use we can be confident that no matter bow violent \
tion . This is a mystery formula. In the true story of imaginary beings, the or meaningless it seems on , the surface, the right things will ultimately
mystery of the alíen is never solved, only somehow dealt with. In Bram happen. Melodrama, then, is the fantasy of a world that operates according ·· 1
Stoker's Dracula, the alien being is dealt with by a more or less rationalistic- lo our heart's desires in contrast to the other formula types that are fantasies l
religious technology of vampire control, but the mystery cannot be explained . ()f particular actions or states of being that counter sorne of our deepest fears 1

away . The way is prepared for him to rise again and again. This sort of or concentrate on particular wishes for victory or love or knowledge. r·
conclusion is the very antithesis of the mystery story where, once discovered Therefore, melodrama can contain all the other fantasies and often does. In .1

and explained, a secret is no longer capable of disturbing or troubling us. f<!Ct, its chief characteristic is the combination of a number of actions and ¡
scttings in order to build up the sense of a whole world bearing out the ¡
of right and wrong, good and evil. ,J
Melodrama
One thing possessed in common by these otherwise very different sorts of
Though the term "melodrama" is sometimes applied to the dramatic produc- t>lories is the quality that has traditionally been understood as the hallmark of
tions of a certain period, it also often designates a certain kind of !it(;!_rary melodrama: the drama of intensified effects (i.e., music, "melos") added to
structure, and that is what I have in mind here. The structure in question is a the play to increase its emotional power and intensify its hold on the
s¿}ffiewhat problema tic category beca use it does not appear to reflect a single nlldience. Therefore, the idea of melodrama has come to be associated with
overriding narrative or drama tic focus such as heroic adventure, the quest for violence and sensationalism-"the plot revolves around malevolent intrigue /
!ove, the solution of mystery or alien beings and states. But there are nnd violent action, while credibility both of character and plot is sacrificed.· )
formulaic narratives such as various types of best-selling novels, or many for violent effect and emotional opportunism." 4 This is undoubtedly one ·
nineteenth-century plays commonly designated by the term, which seem to major characteristic of melodrama, but, as I noted in the first chapter, the
combine more than one of these different fantasies toward sorne other quest for intensified narrative or drama tic effects is characteristic of the entire
purpose. For example, if we take a novellike Peyton Place we can obviously. range of formulaic types. Particular formulas come into existence and ·¡
subsume much of the narrative under the heading of romance, though it is r_lourish at least in part because they invent heightened narrative or dramatic 1
clearly not a romance in the sense that it focuses on the story of a single patterns. In this sense all formulaic stories are melodramatic, and we might l
tYQes-adventure, romance, and mystery - as
of the large, messy, but enormously popular canvases of Harold Robbins, Himply specialized forros of melodrama. Indeed, many of the moclen1
such as The Adventurers. There we ha ve a great deal of romance, but also a specialized formulas such as the classital detective story, the spy story, tl'Hl
whole structure of adventure, as well as elements that do not readily fit under hard-boiled detective story, and the gothic romance did evolve historically
any of the other categories such as the quasirealistic portrayal of different 1ro m the broader melodrama tic forros of the early nineteenth century.
social structures in Europe and South America. Another kind of formula In addition to this basic aspect of melodrama, we can specify a charactedti·
poses a related difficulty, the classic gangster film with its tale of the rise and tic purpose which differentiates a large class of works that can be calltíd _
fall of a gangster protagonist. In terms of its action content, this type of film melodramatic from the other major formulaic types. This type has at Hu '1
might be subsumed under the category of adventure formulas, but there is a center the moral fantasy of showing forth the essential "rightness" of t:hC J·
very important difference between this formula and the adventure pattern. world order. As the adventure story plays out the fantasy of heroic trimn¡:)h 1
The classic gangster tale is not a story of heroic triumph but of ultimate over insuperable obstacles and the mystery presents the assertion of rationl'll
defeat. Though it deals with crime a'nd involves police detection and pursuit arder over secrecy, chaos, and irrationality, the melodrama shows how tht1
of the criminals, it is not a mystery either, since no secrets are held from the complex ambiguities and tragedies of the world ultimately rcveul liHl \
audience and those who seek a solution of the crime are not protagonists but operation of a benevolent, humanly oriented moral order. Becausc of thls, \
antagonists. melodramas are usually rather complicated in plot and character; of
At first sight works as diverse as Peyton Place, The Adventurers, and Little idcntifying with a single protagonist through his line of action, thc melo•
Caesar do not seem to ha ve much in common. I would like to put forward the drama typically makes us intersect imaginatively with many lives. Sub"plohl
,_ argument that they do share one very fundamental pattern : they are a!! mulliply , and the point of view continually shifts in order to in vol ve us in a
narratives of a comolex of actions in a )\ex of destinies. Through this complex of characters and plots w(· !•(•(:
,- ·- · - --·- .
violence and tragedy we associate with the "real world" but th a t in this case 1101 so rnuch thc working of ind
46 fl

of the world. In this respect, melodrama sometimes comes el ose to tragedy. melodrama is a work like Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth's Ishmael, where the
) But there is a crucial difference: in tragedy, the protagonist's catastrophe sclf-reliant Christian hero suffers a good deal in his early life from the
( reveals the great gap between human desires and the limitations of the world; lmputation of bastardy before a providential series of circumstances finally
_Lin melodrama this gap is bricked over. Melodramatic suffering and violence reveals that he was born in wedlock and is the legitima te son of a first family
are means of testing and ultimately demonstrating the "rightness" of the of Virginia. Here, as in most melodramas, the universal moral order valida tes
world order. If the melodramatic hero meets a catastrophic end, it is either as current social attitudes. One can see this principie operating in a contem-
a noble.sa<;rifice to sorne good purpose or because he has become deserving of porary melodramatist like Harold Robbins, even though the conception of
destrucÜon: Within certain basic limits of plausibility and audience accep- providence is no longer part of the vision of the world order. In Robbins's The
tance, the_more realistic, tragic, and overpowering the evil plots, the more Ca rpetbaggers, for example, the protagonist tastes extensively of al! that
satisfyiqg) he ultimate triumph of the good. t;normous riches, power, and erotic delights can offer only to discover in the
., Nothing seems quite so dated melodrama beGause- t:he - that true fulfillment líes in a monogamous love, a simple home, and a
moralisfic a ssumptions oñ;;hich its concept of "rightness" are founded are family . Popular Freudianism has replaced providence as the primary means
deeply tied up with culture-bound assumptions and beliefs. Therefore, what of articulating the universal moral order, but the result is essentially the
may seem the essence of "rightness" to one period becomes morally outra- demonstration of a connection between traditional middle-class domestic
geous or even hilariously funny to another. Throughout most of the nine- morality and the operative principies of the cosmos. On the other hand, a
) teenth century, for example, the "rightness" of the world order appears to work iike The Godfather may well involve sorne significant transformations
have hinged on a sort of divine, providential economy that hinted at the of meaning in the relation between the moral order and received values , but I
r direct and continua! intervention of God in the affairs of men. Evil actions, rnust deal with this at- greater length in another place.
defined largely as transgressions against the happiness and respectability of The formulas that depend on the basic moral fantasy of melo-
the middle-class family structure, inevitably led to terrible catastrophes for drama are many and various. Sorne of the more important contemporary
their perpetrators, while the innocent and the good were assured of their <:xamples are the best-selling panoramic social novel such as those written by
reward, if not in this Iife at least in the hereafter. In Uncle Tom's Cabín, the 1rving Wallace, Harold Robbins, and Jacqueline Susann, the historical
most powerful and most popular of nineteenth-century melodramas, the npcctacle such as Gane wíth the Wínd, the soap opera, the gangster saga, the
world we live in is shown to usas full of tragedy and evil; yet it is somehow a professional drama such as the doctor, lawyer, or teacher story, and many
benevolent and right world beca use even the suffering of the good shows
leEva and -the martyrdom of Tomare thcse formulas are shaped by the basic qualities of melodrama: the heighten-
transcended and our tears turn to joy when we are assured that the wracked ing of feeling and moral conflict and multiple lines of action that work
and beaten body will rise in glory. Certainly much of Mrs. Stowe's skill in together to create a sense of the rightness of the world order.
organizing and narrating the multiple stories of the novellies in the way her
presentation of a slave society both condemns the transgressors and conveys Afien Beings or States
to us certainty of redemption for the good. The history of Uncle Tom's
Cabin also reveals to us another aspect of the cultural significance of One of the largest and certainly the strangest of al! formulaic types consists of
melodrama. Because it directly implicatesa world-view with particular social :;tories dealing with alíen beings and states. The horror story, which usually
actions and characters, melodrama has the capacity for enormous social portrays the depredations and ultimate destruct.i on of sorne monster, is one
impact. When a new set of social meanings are powerfully involved with nf the most striking formulas of this type. On the face of it, horror is a most
traditional -structures of value and feeling, as Mrs. Stowe effectively pre- puzzling sort of entertainment, yet, judging from the immense popularity of
sented black characters in such powerful traditional melodramatic roles as the formula and the great enjoyment audiences derive from it, people take
the Christian martyr, the loving mother, and the self-reliant hero, the impact cnonnous delight in being scared out of their wits, at least in fantasy. There :
of the work can possibly bring about significant changes in public attitudes. ;¡re a number of ideas that might help to explain this paradoxical feeling. First
It is hard to be certain that Uncle Tom's Cabin hada causal relation to the oí all, the very intensity of the emotion of horror may be one reason for its
Civil War, but it is clear that Southern apologists felt that it posed a basic :>uccess as escapism, for the more intense our response to a work is, the more
threat to their moral vision of the _world. il takcs us out of ourselves. audiences shriek and how! with fear as
Of course, few melodramas involve this implication of traditional attitudes
111.1 )' be f1,r many pcoplc il profound experience of self-transcendence, a
Notestoward a Typology of Literary Formulas 49
- - 48 Cha2ter Two 7.

complete forgetting of self in the intense and momentary involvement in an the horror. Fo_r this reason I suggest that the key
externa! fantasy. The fact that horror seems especially fascinating to the charactenstl_c of the type 1s the representatlon of sorne alien being or state and
young and relatively unsophisticated parts of the public offers sorne substan- ; the underlymg moral fantasy is our dream that the unknowable can be
tiation for this view. Older, educated people probably learn more sophisti- known and related to in sorne meaningful fashion. The evoking of our fears
cated m o des of self-transcendence and beco me too detached and critica! to be . lif . beco mes entertaining when we are assured that we will finally be able to
terrified by the more primitive of _monsterdom. For such audiences, relate them. i,f the alíen or_ state is somehow
and for those to whom the hornflc dev1ces of the past have become too ,r¡. fmally v 1ctonous as m Don S1egel s superb film lnvaswn of the Body
i familiar, creators must develop new, more refined modes of terror such as Snatchers, ':e still feel the security of understanding what is happening. And ¡
Í ma_dness; Hitchcock's Psycho -:vas a brilliant the formulaiC tendency, of is the defeat or at least ¡
refmement of horror that retamed much of the pnm1t1ve mtens1ty of the of the ahen creature, ¡ust as S1egel was pressured to 1-
classic horro: . . h1s. ble?-ker .ending to that film. . .
But pure mtenslty of emot10n 1s clearly not the only answer, for the V1e':"ed m th1s way, l thmk we can understand why lt 1s that horror is
emotion has to occur in sorne context where it does not become a real threat sometlmes so strangely clase to comedy, and why the monsters of one
to the audience. Thus we might make a differentiation between the fear or gen.eration hav: a .tendency to quasi-comic heroes for later
terror we may experience in connection with tragedies and the sense of horror penods: To ob¡ectlfy a terror by g1vmg 1t a specific form is closely related to
; we feel as we watch or read a monster story. There is something basically · rhythm of comed y in which a situation presented as dangerous or
comfortable about horror, while terror shakes our whole view of the world. · d1sturbmg turns out suddenly to befar less so than we thought. The more we
I remember still the ter:or I a child when I saw the zombie to a like Dra.cula, the seems to our
lurch across the screen m Bob Hope s mov1e The Ghost Breakers. Ironically, lnevltably the earher Dracula fllms now mvolve us in a sense
this was a totally irrelevant response, since the portrayal was full of comic ,:· 5·S' of mcongrmty between how terrifying and unknowable the alíen creature
exaggeration_, but I was too unfamiliar with this sort of formula to know that,
and I was fnghtened for months. What really scared me was that I became
:7i\
1,,
seems to the other characters in the film . as compared :o. our comfortable
knowledge about the technology of vamp1re control. Th1s 1s the feelíng that
half-convinced that the monster was real, not in the pleasurable sense of 1 '··l seized upon so brilliantly in The Fearless Vampire Killers by using
exphc1t comedy as
suspended in a ter.rible confusion of fantasy and reality that Ieft l. ;•

me lool<mg oenmcl aoors, f-e-arrng- shadnws-;-arrd- even- bei·n g-afr-a-icl- te-ge-te--·.

movies. I felt suddenly and very palpably confronted with all the limitations ÍE
r of re-creating the experience of horror. Other
contemporary vamp1re-fllm makers ha ve had to resort to a variety of devices
to regenerate the sense of horror: the vampire figure, creating aii
of mortality. I think this was close to a tragic emotion, though it lacked the :\t'·>¡¡ manner of gory. .effects, quasi-scientific rationales to
moral transcendence that derives from the feeling of pity for a defeated replace tradltiOnal Chnstlan symbohsm of the vampire story.
protagonist and the sense of acceptance of the limitations of man that tragedy · Horror 1s not. the only mode for stories of alíen beings or states. The
usually creates. fantasy of knowmg the through objectification is also the basis
Ac:ually U:Y to that zombie. was a direct result of m y lack of '!f of the b.road of stones referred to as science. fiction. Though ,
expenence wlth 1magmary creatures of th1s sort. Therefore, I allowed my fear ..:;.: most sCience flctlon does not a1m for the effect of horror m the fashion of }
to turn something I was seeing into something unknown and unknowable, ·i- ;· ' ghost and stories, the elose connection between these different
! yet nonetheless real. This is what the finest nonformulaic stories of terror modes of usmg ahen experiences is suggested by the role of science in a classic
! such as Henry James's Turn of the Screw or Poe's "Fall of the House of Usher" hor:or story like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and by the importance of
accomplish. They show us the incomprehensibility of the unknown and the of transcendent, quasi-religious experience in works of science
limits of the knowable. We know that something terrible is happening flctiOn hke those of Arthur Clark and C. S. Lewis.
around or between the governess and her charges or between Roderick and . These notes toward a typology of literary formulas are set forth in a tenta-
his sister, but we cannot and never will find out just what, despite the best tlve and exploratory fashion. There may be other important archetypes of
efforts of generations of critics to find certain evidence as to whether there are moral fantasy that l ha ve not identified in this system of classification. But it
or are not supernatural causes at work in those stories. Horror domesticates d?es see::n to provide sorne general classes into which we can loosely
terror by objectifying it in the form of sorne clearly defined alíen being or different1a.te the most common contemporary formulas. Unfortunately, even
' state. It is a commonplace that once a terrify mg tnmg isactually-s-e-en- o to treat wlth .sorne complexity the most important particular formulas that
experienced, it loses much of its terror, and that is preciscly wha t ha ppens in embody the hve archetypes would exceed reasonable limits. Therefore, I have
chosen to concentrate my attention in the main body of this book on certain
key formulas embodying mainly the archetypes of adventure and mystery:
the western, the hard-boiled detective story, the classical detective story,
and, to sorne extent, the gangster saga. Only in the ninth chapter will I
attempt a discussion of one kind of melodramatic formula, using the various The Mythology of Crime and
techniques of analysis developed in chapters 3 through 8. The whole complex
territory covered by the archetypes of romance and alien beings or states Its Formulaic Embodiments
must, alas, be left to later inquiries and to the work of other scholars.

In the first chapter I argued that particular formulas are ways of embodying
certain archetypal fantasies in the materials of a specific culture. The second
chapter presented a tentative anatomy of these underlying archetypes . In this
chapter 1 will consider more fully the problem of cultural mythology by
examining the various formulas that have been generated by the mythology
of crime, a great imaginative obsession of the nineteenth- and twentieth-
century Englishmen and Americans. To give this rather complex discussion
sorne center, I willlet it grow out of a consideration of a current best-seller
about crime, Mario Puzo's The Godfather. In the course of the analysis I will
show how the major nineteenth- and twentieth-century crime formulas
compare with The Godfather and with each other and will offer sorne
hypotheses about the dialectic between the literature of crime and the
contemporary cultures that produce it so prolifically.

The Godfather and the Literature of Crime

The best-selling novel and film of the late 1960s and early 1970s was Mario
Puzo's The Godfather. Its impact has been so great-millions of copies of the
book sold in little over three years, and many more millions of movie
admissions-that one does not need much prescience to predict that this
work will be a major turning point in the evolution of popular literature,
perhaps comparable to the significance of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes,
certainly as important as Ian Fleming's James Bond. In the wake of The
Godfather's enormous success, a film seque! has been produced, while a
number of other films about the Mafia such as The Valachi Papers have
coasted to considerable popularity on its coattails. Publishers have increased
their listings of crime fiction, taking advantage of the Godfather craze to
reissue in paperback any recent novels that ha ve the slightest connection with
the subject of Puzo' s book. 1 Everywhere newsstands and marquees are
plastered with such come-ons as "more action, sex, and violence than The
Godfather and The French Connectíon combined" or 'The Big New Mafia
r ." Though no TV
network has yet announced a series called "One Don's Family," I suspec t tha t
scores of producers and writers are rack ing their brains to fi gure o ut a