How Did Chaucer Author Influence Modern Novel Writing Styles?

I read the Tales in high school, but I never really got it. They bored me to tears, and I was generally confused as to why they existed in the first place. Maybe now that there are modern adaptations, I can finally appreciate the old man through one of them. Anyone else appreciate the Tales later in life through an adaptation?

Influence of Nathaniel Hawthorne on Modern Literature. Hawthorne’s most celebrated work, ‘The Scarlet Letter’, has proven to be a very influential work of literature for many writers today. Many writers today explore the same themes of morality and human nature that Hawthorne explored in his works. A large amount of his influence comes from his use of symbolism, most notable with the scarlet letter in ‘The Scarlet Letter’. Furthermore, his studies of internal struggle have pioneered psychological fiction. By portraying characters’ struggles with guilt, sin, and redemption, Hawthorne has influenced authors such as Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates in their exploration of the human psyche in conflict with society. Hawthorne’s work stands as a symbol of enduring literature’s capability to confront the human experience.

Just wanted to mention how astounding the amount of game narratives are basically “Dune by another name” i.e. tons of political backstabbing, savior type characters and wars over ecology. This has influenced the area of game narratives, way beyond simple adaptation. Items such as the resource which is to control the universe’s economy in particular have created a template for all sorts of stories involving various factions fighting over resources. This allows for very straightforward gameplay of player versus computer controls etc where the player has to gather resources to fight against other computer players (AI). However, that doesn’t mean that other books haven’t been equally as influential on the sci-fi game genre. A great example of a book that I believe may have had a huge influence on games such as ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ and ‘Deus Ex’ is William Gibson’s ‘Neuromancer’. The book is essentially the blueprint for the whole cyberpunk genre and many games and movies today are inspired by the themes and environments created in this book. The sprawl of the city, the console cowboy, the line between man and machine all are contained within the novel’s pages. Games are able to allow the player to explore these gritty high-tech environments in a completely new and interactive way. This type of influence is typically thematic rather than literal. The novel ‘Hyperion’ is structured in much the same way as ‘The Canterbury Tales’, in that each chapter is told from a different perspective, all set against the backdrop of a distant future where ‘Deep Time’ (effectively timeless) events are slowly unravelled by the characters. Games like ‘Destiny’ or the ‘Mass Effect’ trilogy have been influenced by this approach to story-telling. And by “influenced” I mean that they’ve been taught by the medium that these types of long-form stories can be just as deep and rich as anything found in print. The way that novels of science fiction can influence video games is that they can provide setting and concept for the game. However, to make an interesting game, the complex ideas of the novel must be turned into gameplay, such as developing character skills or building a base. So, while there is obvious influence from novels of science fiction, there is also clear mutation into something which can be played on a computer. The impact that ‘Ender’s Game’ has had on the Strategic/Tactical Space Combat genre cannot be overstated, bringing together a unique blend of high level Strategic thought and deep immersive storyline that is tailored around the command of a simulated interstellar war fought between the most gifted and naturally aggressive individuals in society, a fair representation of what esports could look like today. When I read ‘Revelation Space’ and the rest of the ‘Revelation Space’ universe, the largest influence on me was the world building and sheer amount of complex, rules-based technology and aliens that Alastair Reynolds had created. It set a new benchmark for game world design and it’s a big part of why codex entries and lore logs exist in many modern games – to allow players to delve deeper into the game world than just the main story. But Iain M. Banks’ ‘Culture’ novels have clearly had an influence on many games, even if not direct. The depiction of a post-scarcity society is certainly highly influential, and the extremely powerful and cantankerous AIs that exist within that society (such as the Ship Minds in the novels) have clear antecedents in characters like Cortana in the Halo series, and many other AI companions in space-based games. Some of the earliest visual influences on game environments were the descriptions of sprawling cities and alien landscapes in novels like Ken MacLeod’s Blindsight and Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama. While there are many influences on the environments in games like Dead Space and Prey (2017), concept artists and art directors have often pored over the detailed architectural descriptions of these science fiction novels to add depth and inspiration to the levels in their games. Influencing contemporary literature is something that games are increasingly able to do and the relationship appears to be reciprocal in a sense in that the many ambitious novels of today were seeded by the earlier influential works of the science fiction genre. We can see for example the influence of the corporate dystopian worlds of Philip K. Dick upon the very large and complex megacorps of the world of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ and the ways in which the writer’s exploration of themes related to identity and to perceptions of reality have been able to be translated in to the games’ use of braindances or other perception altering drugs as mechanics that provide meaningful play within the game’s world. There's much more that could be said here, perhaps starting with the influence of military sci-fi novels such as Starship Troopers. Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated. How have the Halo novels influenced (or been influenced by) the Halo video games?

Influencing other writers to avoid certain ground in their work is perhaps the greatest impact of To Kill a Mockingbird. Written by a white author from the perspective of a white child in a small Southern town, many writers – white in particular – felt that such a powerful portrayal of racial ‎inequity had been written and that they could not match Lee’s work. Instead, they went on to write about other issues, often taking place in urban environments, focusing on the internal lives of Black characters rather than how they are perceived by whites, and using highly innovative structures to tell their stories. The novel affected Black writers differently, firstly because To Kill a Mockingbird brought attention to racial terror in the South on a national scale, and secondly because her perspective was white. While her work created space for such novels in mainstream literature, it also cast attention on the stories within the Black experience. The boom of the Black literary tradition from James Baldwin to Morrison to Ward could be seen as a compliment to and response to the work of a white writer who tackled issues of racial inequality in a Southern setting. Her work opened a door, but others walked through it to find different rooms.

While it is difficult to pinpoint the very first romance novel, it is widely accepted that Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, published in 1740, is one of the first true romance novels. Callirhoe by Chariton of Aphrodisias (c. 2nd century AD) and Tristan and Iseult (c. 12th century) were among the first works of literature to explore the emotions of love and the longing that often accompanies it. Many of the characteristics that have become synonymous with romance today originated with these groundbreaking works, which continue to influence the genre to this day.

After some consideration, I’d like to nominate John Green for this list. While his books are categorized as YA contemporary, especially The Fault in Our Stars, they are ultimately monumental love stories. The book has captured the hearts of a generation of readers and has made many people cry and swoon in equal measure. He’s one of the top male authors writing stories with love and relationships at their core. While much of his work is published in YA channels, his collaborative works with other authors are often deeply romantic in nature. So, while he may not be considered a “romance novelist” according to RWA guidelines, in many cultural contexts he is regarded as one of the top authors of romantic fiction. This distinction is significant, as the definition we use for the list changes dramatically. Are we talking about authors of bestselling books about love? Then there are many more authors who could be included on this list. Are we talking about authors whose primary career is writing category romance? Then the list shrinks dramatically.

I noticed that the level of formality in the writing even shifted within the series. The early Kay novels contained many formal scenes of observation, which were highly effective when contrasted with the more natural and informal dialogue of characters’ interactions. There are also places where the formality of the observations pushes into the characters’ dialogues and even into their internal monologues, where as a result they begin to sound more or less the same: heightened, dramatic, unnatural. As for individuality within a scene: while each of the three main guys has his own somewhat distinct verbal rhythm, in crisis mode they for the most part speak in the same heightened, largely exposition-driven register. And so while there was once considerable distinction between a purely professional observation and purely personal interactions, that distinction has been eroding in these books, leading to a voice that’s largely uniform and at times monotonous.

I’ve seen many editions of the Great Books published by Encyclopedia Britannica. The translation in most of them is unremarkable. It’s serviceable, plain prose, written for the mid-20th century everyman who wanted to be educated. It’s not elegant or sophisticated or even particularly good in most cases. And it’s often very cheap in secondhand stores. I suppose the search for the perfect translation sometimes leads people to ignore very good, simple translations of a work in favor of something that will be lauded by academics and won’t cost an arm and a leg. But in terms of knowing a story, this sort of translation is perfectly fine. It’s not meant to be great, just to get the story across without much commentary. And accuracy doesn’t have to come from a famous name.

Unfortunately, ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ has not yet been made into a film but it is included in Pasolini’s 1972 version of ‘The Canterbury Tales’, a very bold and stylized version of Chaucer’s work. The BBC made an animated version of ‘The Canterbury Tales’ in 2003 with a modern twist for each Tale. The two adaptations are worth a look to see how Chaucer’s work can be transferred to the screen but as far as I know there is no direct adaptation of ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ into a film and that would be a shame because it is such a dark and strange Tale.

'Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba' is half as cool as it is because of how its style reflects the series’ themes. The almost otherworldly Water Breathing techniques of the entertainers look so much different from the violent, brutal assaults the demons launch at the characters. Even how the characters are designed goes towards these themes, with Tanjiro’s green-checked haori symbolizing his growth. The flamboyantly and beautifully designed demons like Akaza have marks on their bodies that are so beautiful they make their violent actions all the more unsettling. The colors used in the anime change greatly between arcs. In the darkest times the anime portrays the world to be in muted blues and greys, but in times of determination and action the world is filled with fiery reds. It just goes to show that style isn’t just there to make a story look better, it’s basically the soul of the story.