What is it about?
Does the normativity of personal growth still hold in a post-normative plural culture? I argue, against Christopher Booker (The Seven Basic Plots), that contemporary fiction reveals a normativity but one that calls for the participation of the reader in a more involved way than was the case in premodern literature.
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Why is it important?
The question of whether there is a cross-cultural norm of human nature is key to much philosophical work today.
Perspectives
Following on from this study, one direction is that of contesting theological approaches, with Remi Brague seeking to re-introduce a norm of human nature against the contemporary trend, with other commentators such as Michel Houellebecq speculating on a future culture without any such norm.
Patrick Giddy
University of KwaZulu-Natal
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This page is a summary of: Jack and the Beanstalk: The human plot in narrative traditions and contemporary global culture, South African Journal of Philosophy, October 2020, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/02580136.2020.1839832.
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