The seven basic plots : why we tell stories / by Christopher Booker.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

pt. 1: The seven gateways to the underworld. Prologue to part one -- Overcoming the monster -- The monster (II) and the thrilling escape from death -- Rags to riches -- The quest -- Voyage and return -- Comedy -- Comedy (II) : the plot disguised -- Tragedy (I) : the five stages -- Tragedy (II) : the divided self -- Tragedy (III) : the hero as monster -- Rebirth -- The dark power : from shadow into light -- Epilogue to part 1 : the rule of three (the role played in stories by numbers) -- pt. 2: The complete happy ending. Prologue to part two -- The dark figures -- Seeing whole : the feminine and masculine values -- The perfect balance -- The unrealised value -- The archetypal family drama (continued) -- The light figures -- Reaching the goal -- The fatal flaw -- pt. 3: Missing the mark. The ego takes over (I) : enter the dark inversion -- The ego takes over (II) : the dark and sentimental versions -- The ego takes over (III) : quest, voyage and return, comedy -- The ego takes over (IV) : tragedy and rebirth -- Losing the plot : Thomas Hardy, a case history -- Going nowhere : the passive ego : the twentieth-century dead end, from Chekhov to Close encounters -- Why sex and violence? : the active ego : the twentieth-century obsession : from de Sade to The terminator -- Rebellion against "the one" : from Job to Nineteen eighty-four -- The mystery -- The riddle of the sphinx : Oedipus and Hamlet -- pt. 4: Why we tell stories. Telling us who we are : ego versus instinct -- Into the real world : the ruling consciousness -- Of gods and men : reconnecting with "the one" -- The age of Loki : the dismantling of the self -- Epilogue : the light and the shadows on the wall -- Author's personal note -- Glossary of terms.