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My POV
Brian A. Wilson
BOOK REVIEW: "The Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations" by Georges Polti.
Next time you think, "Hey, somebody could steal my idea," grab this book, flip through it and realize, "That's impossible."
Nobody can steal your idea, because you're already stealing from literary history. I defy you to find your plot NOT listed in this book.
This funky, unique compendium reduces dramas to 36 different situations, and the variations possible in each.
For instance, the 27th Situation is "Discovery of the Dishonor of a Loved One." Under that, you'll find Discovery of a Mother's Shame," "Duty of Punishing a Brother" and, that ol' hair in the soup, "Discovery that One's Wife ahas Formerly been a Prostitute"
The shortcoming of the book is its citation of examples. Most come from deep within literature or the theater, so deep as to be obscure. I don't know about you, but I have a little trouble conjuring up images from Feuillet's 1886 work "Chamillac" or that timeless classic "Vieille Histoire" by Jean Jullien, 1891.
That leads me to the hot tip of the week: If you want to write a book, update this one, using movies and/or TV shows instead of forgotten literature. I'd do it myself, but who has the time? I'd rather just pay you $8.95 for it!
Modern references would make this an even more valuable resource, but it's thought-provoking, even in its present incarnation.
Keep writing.
BW
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