The art of storytelling has been a gift shared through many generations over thousands of years, the earliest known ones being cave paintings dating back around 40,000 years ago. Before pen was ever put to paper, stories were told through various forms of media, and the oral culture at the centre of storytelling passed down tales via word of mouth, with additions made by each orator, until they were eventually written down, to give us the stories we have today. Fantastical tales of bloody battles, dangerous adventures and tragic romances all started as oral tales and today they make up one of the biggest book genres, generating £83 million in sales in 2024 alone. But what actually makes a story last a millennia? How is it that great works of fantasy such as The Iliad and The Odyssey are still popular, when they originated nearly 3000 years ago?
Fantasy is such a popular genre due to the ability it gives the reader to slip away into the world
within the book and use their minds eye to immerse themselves in a parallel universe with none
of the problems of the real world. The ability to lose yourself in a story is often a solace for many
people and this is something that goes back many generations.
At the time of The Iliad and The Odyssey, kings would gather in their courts with their bravest soldiers, talking for hours of the glorious battles they had just fought, monsters they had slain and quests they had undertaken, which is the way that many stories originated. Fast forward to today and people are still talking about stories, only this time in the form of book clubs, bookstagram and booktok accounts. Social
media has taken the book world by storm, with over 108 million posts tagged #Bookstagram and the #BookTok hashtag having been viewed over 309 billion times.
It is inherently clear that storytelling is as important today as it was 40,000 years ago when the
first stories were being told, but how is it that some of the original greats, like The Odyssey, are still
around and popular? The key to this question is the importance of the oral tradition. To this day,
people still love to sit around and tell the tales they have heard in their day-to-day goings on,
whether it be gossip heard at the corner shop or something that happened at work. Talking is how
we spend time with people, and it allows us to process the emotions of the day and the world around us.
From the Ancient Greek soldiers gathered round the campfire, trying to one up each other’s tales of glory to the students in the coffee shop telling the saga of their most recent class, we are always telling stories and modifying them to suit our audiences or surroundings. This is how epics like The Iliad have maintained their status.
I’m sure many people remember snuggling up under the covers as a child while mum or dad read to them classics such as: Once upon a Picnic, Fix it Duck and We’re going on a Bear Hunt, all of which were
popular bedtime choices in my house when I was growing up. There is something so comforting about being read to by someone like that and this continuation of the oral tradition is how stories are passed down through generations and why the love of storytelling is still around today. Clearly we must all keep telling stories, no matter how great or small, as this is how we can do our part in making them last a millennia.
