18 November Journal

Early in the novel, the narrator says, "The only thing Luo was really good at was telling stories. A pleasing talent to be sure, but a marginal one, with little future in it Modern man has moved beyond the age of the Thousand-and-one Nights, and modern societies everywhere, whether socialist or capitalist, have done away with the old storytellers--more's the pity" (18). Is he right about the marginal status of the storyteller in the modern world? Is there a place for stoerytellers in our culture ? Explain with examples...