Stories Evolve: From Collective Memory to Individual Reading

Historically, storytelling was a communal experience, reliant on skilled storytellers who engaged audiences with their memory and performative talents. These narratives were shared repeatedly, allowing for variations tailored to the audience but never resulting in identical retellings. This oral tradition fostered a sense of community reflective of the societal structures in which people lived. However, the advent of the printing press marked a transformative shift in storytelling, introducing the novel as not just a new format but an individualistic activity, separating the experience of storytelling from its previous collective nature.