On Showing and Telling

摘要

This paper examines the familiar instruction, 'show, don't tell'. Beginning with discussion of the historical origins of the idea it then moves to criticism of the various ways in which authors of both literary critical texts and creative writing manuals have dealt with the subject, with special attention to recent work such as that of Francine Prose that seems to straddle the two. In breaking down the phrase into its constituent parts and the assumptions upon which these rest, we are able to see the limitations of the literary-critical approach as well the possible alternatives. Following this, the paper argues that the only way to really understand the question is to make use of research into the psychology of these ideas and the evolutionary benefits of their underlying mechanisms. Once understood, use of these mechanisms can only lead to an improvement in the way that writers use the effects of both 'showing' and 'telling'.