Story-telling in School and Home. A Study in Educational Esthetics
REVIEWS AND CRITICISM.
- Author:
Emelyn
Newcomb Partridge and George Everett Partridge, Ph.D. New York: Sturgis and Walton Company, 1912. Pp. x + 323.
Dr Partridge is the author of several books on psychology and was formerly a lecturer in Clark University. Mrs. Partridge is a professional story-teller for the playgrounds and garden cities of Worcester, Mass. She contributes to the present book several chapters based on her experiences in the art of story-telling, and presents in her own way examples of the types of story most useful for educational purposes; while Dr Partridge has worked out the scientific principles involved in story-telling and explains its value from the standpoint of genetic psychology.
Naturally enough the first chapter sketches the history of this oldest of all the arts, the best preserved and the most universally beloved, and the second chapter deals with the reason why stories have been created by the race. They are the outcome of “an effort to obtain vicarious satisfaction from an unyielding world… . The story is eminently practical to the savage,” says Dr. Partridge, for “it arouses feelings that lead to confident activity in the midst of chance.” It might be objected that in Moslem countries where storytelling has always flourished and where it has reached its most perfect expression as a dramatic art, the effect of the story is quite the opposite. Far from inducing activity of any sort, it seems to gratify the craving for excitement on the part of the listeners, and so to keep them passively dependent upon Fate.
This objection does not apply to primitive stories, which are the best for children. “These stories arouse deep instincts which our higher culture materials cannot reach; and they bring to the surface and help to control forces of the unconscious life, which often as fears, dreams, morbid desires and nervous manifestations later afflict the child… . Humor is socializing and arouses feeling and reactions that cannot be reached in any other way. Especially the simple, wholesome fun of the savage is good for the child. It makes him sympathetic and alert, and it has the excellent virtue of never having been written for the purpose of being funny.”
In the concluding chapters of Part I the difficult topics of “The Story in Moral Education,” “The Story and the Child’s Religion,” and “The Story and the Individual,” are handled with delicacy and skill. Part II is made up of eighteen stories of varying length and widely different types. As is to be expected, some are not so good as others, but two or three at least are of the highest degree of excellence. The volume closes with a chapter of very helpful “Suggestions for Reading.” (24)
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.