#because literary analysis is SO GOOD and SO FUN!! and sure i was mediocre to good at it in high school too and hated it in uni

[elmaxlys]

Writing an essay on groups of two to four sentences reminds me of the students who, when faced with either a sonnet or, like, La Bruyère, looked me straight in the eyes and told me there wasn't much to say.

[deanssweetheart23]

How come there are certain fic ideas that get written to death? Like the reader being jealous of Dean at the bar and eventually they reveal feelings. Or Dean hides his feelings because he's a hunter and doesn't think he deserves love. Ugh. I wish there were more original ideas out there.

Dearnonnie, I have no idea whether this is a genuine question of yours or justsomething implicitly pointed towards my own writing (since I have a fic very similarto jealous!reader and this just came in after I posted the announcement on mynew mini-series which includes “Dean hides his feelings because he’s a hunter anddoesn’t think he deserves love”) but in any case, I am thankful for your politeness and very happy youasked me this question because I’m majoring in English language and literatureand spent a whole semester studying theory and criticism of lit, so I feel likethis is something I can answer.

My (very long) answer is just belowthe cut..

“We say that every poet has his own peculiarformation of images. But when so many poets use so many of the same images,surely there are much bigger critical problems involved than biographical ones.As Mr. Auden’s brilliant essay The Enchafèd Flood shows, an important symbollike the sea cannot remain within the poetry of Shelley or Keats or Coleridge :it is bound to expand over many poets into an archetypal symbol of literature.And if the genre has a historical origin, why does the genre of drama emergefrom medieval religion in a way so strikingly similar to the way it emergedfrom Greek religion centuries before? This is a problem of structure ratherthan origin, and suggests that there may be archetypes of genres as well as ofimages.

…

An archetype should be not only a unifyingcategory of criticism, but itself a part of a total form, and it leads us atonce to the question of what sort of total form criticism can see inliterature. Our survey of critical techniques has taken us as far as literaryhistory. Total literary history moves from the primitive to the sophisticated,and here we glimpse the possibility of seeing literature as a compilation of arelatively restricted and simple group of formulas that can be studied inprimitive culture. If so, then the search for archetypes is a kind of literaryanthropology, concerned with the way that literature is informed bypre-literary categories such as ritual, myth and folk tale. We next realizethat the relation between these categories and literature is by no means purelyone of descent, as we find them reappearing in the greatest classics- in factthere seems to be a general tendency on the part of great classics to revertthem. This coincides with a feeling that we have all had: that the study ofmediocre works of art, however energetic, obstinately remains a random andperipheral form of critical experience, whereas the profound masterpiece seemsto draw us to a point at which we can see an enormous number of convergingpatterns of significance. Here we begin to wonder if we cannot see literature,not only as complicating itself in time, but as spread out in conceptual spacefrom some unseen center.

…

The myth is the central informing power thatgives archetypal significance to the ritual and archetypal narrative to theoracle. Hence the myth is the archetype, through it might be convenient to saymyth only when referring to narrative, and archetype when speaking ofsignificance. In the solar cycle of the day, the seasonal cycle of the year,and the organic cycle of human life, there is a single pattern of significance,out of which myth constructs a central narrative around a figure who is partlythe sun, partly vegetative fertility and partly a god or archetypal human being.”

These arepassages from Northrop Frye’s essay “The Archetypes of Literature” and the gistis that there are archetypes of stories that every single poet (or writer) followssince they are developed based on patterns of human behavior, the psychologicalanalysis of the human soul and on cultural, political and social influences.

All thegreat stories in time are based on archetypes.

Take Great Expectation by Dickens and The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald as anexample. These two works of fiction are considered to be two of the greatestliterary works ever made –and, according to me, they are, but they are bothbased upon the same archetype: A young, intelligent or talented boy withambitions falls in love with a mysterious, rather rich girl, and, influenced bypowerful, wealthy figures (Mrs. Havisham and Jason Gatsby) set out to becomerich and powerful.

The fact bothof these works play upon that archetype doesn’t take away their literary value.And there are so many more stories that follow their own archetypes (in ancientGreek tragedies, for instance, the heroes of the tragedy were always saved towardsthe end of the play by a god. It was a convention of that time, but trust me,ancient Greek tragedies are still frigging awesome because of all thesociopolitical, religious and economical information we can get out of them)

But. Archetypescan also be found within the works of the same author. Another example? Jane Austen.Four of her novels actually revolve around the same theme (which is now knownas the “myth of Jane Austen”); “All fournovels are about young women who fall in love, but eventually reject, theCharming but Worthless lover and finally marry a man whom they esteem andadmire rather than love passionately” (From Gorer’s essay “The Myth in JaneAusten”)

Does thefact she used a myth in her writing take away the fact she’s an awesome writerthat has influenced so many others –and played a part in feministic writing?No, I don’t personally think so.

Now, let’smove this within the Supernatural fanfiction world.

Here,instead of archetypes, we got tropes that writers use because they love writingthem (like jealous reader or jealous Dean). It’s not just that they’re fun towrite though. Again, these are based on patterns of human behavior and the psychologicalanalysis of the human soul since it is generally accepted that if someone flirtswith the person you got feelings for you will be upset (though the revealedfeelings part is just really amazing to write).

And when itcomes to Dean not believing that he deserves to be loved and thus, notadmitting his feelings for someone, I don’t think that’s trope per se. Deanreally doesn’t believe he deserves to be loved. Dean really doesn’t stay withthe ones he loves because he thinks he doesn’t deserve them and knows it willnever work out because he’s a hunter and because he wants to protect them (seeCassie, Lisa, J, Ben etc.). So, I think that if someone wants to write an accurateDean fic, that should be included asan essential part of his character (or if avoided, should include anexplanation as to why).

Andbesides. We all write stories based on SPN, where the characters and theirtraits, pet peeves, characteristics etc. are specific. It is only natural thatsomethings get written more than others. The most important thing is not that,but whether the way you write itmakes it special. It’s the way we tell the story that matters more than the storyitself. (Someone could have an amazing idea about a story but if the storytelling is not good, not many people will appreciate it).

Do I want toread more original ideas though? Yes. And I applaud everyone who comes up withthem and puts them perfectly into words (here, let me suggest Wake up, Sammyand Unwell by @hannahindie Escape by @impala-dreamer and As It Seems by @imagining-supernatural as four of the most original things I’ve ever readhere).

But thepoint is, those stories that get written to death? They matter, too. Because weall put our hearts and souls into our works and that should be enough.

I hope this answers your question, dear anon. Ifnot, you can always send me another ask, I’m always open to discussion.