The Chora in a Novel - Jacob (Blog Post 12)

 Lewis, in his essay “On Stories,” is insistent that stories are more than mere plotlines. He criticizes the three musketeers ignoring any sense of the world. Part of one the things a story does is that it conveys a world. I have always been inclined to skip over the parts of stories which focus on building a world and merely follow the plot. Yet, I think this has been to my disadvantage. This was driven home when listening to Dr. Reddick’s article “Wilderness, Arcadia and Longing: Mythic Landscapes and the Experience of Reality. The setting forms an indispensable part of a novel. The same story cannot take place in two different settings. A story is more than its plot points. Dr.Redick writes, “[For] Lewis’ mythic landscapes introduce a milieu that is more than location, a topos or mere geographical description. Place in Lewis’ landscapes becomes chora, a living presence, a participant in the action.” Settings in a novel are more than just indiscriminate place holders. Rather, they are active participants in the narrative.  

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