There’s Nothing New Under the Sun

Is It True That “There’s Nothing New Under The Sun” and How Does That Affect Writers?

The Concept of Originality Explored – Well, A Little, Anyway.

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done;

there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1 v 9)

I once heard a teacher say this when I was at primary (elementary) school. She was talking to another teacher and I wasn’t really listening (as well I shouldn’t have been) but this unusual phrase leaped out at me. I didn’t understand what it meant, so later on I asked another teacher. She told me that it meant there were no entirely new and original ideas any more – that everything has happened before, that history repeats itself and that every idea has its basis in another idea and so can not be considered original. I suppose it was a very accurate description of what the statement meant, but is it actually true? Are there really no more truly original ideas to be had that have not been had before? No more inventions that that aren’t merely improvements on someone else’s invention, who probably first got the idea from… I’m sure you get my drift. So this article is really two-pronged – firstly, is it true that there is nothing new under the sun and secondly, if so, how does this affect writers? It’s a bit of an exploration, a musing if you will, on the concept of originality.

Over the years, I’ve had cause to use this statement of there being nothing new under the sun, myself – upon hearing of events and incidents that have gone on to have some kind of historical importance, such as the destruction of the Berlin Wall and other incidences of countries moving away from communism or dictatorships towards democracy and freedom, for example, or of hearing of terrible crimes and injustices that have been committed, or of reading stories and watching movies where the storyline and plot seem all too familiar. I remember years ago, having to write a college assignment on “Inspiration”. In the course of my research, I happened to read a book, “Teach Yourself Screenwriting” by Raymond Frensham. In it, he said that there were only eight basic stories upon which all other stories were based. A list of them follows:

• Achilles – the fatal flaw
• Candide – the innocent abroad
• Cinderella – the dream come true
• Circe – the chase or the spider and the fly
• Faust – the debt that must be repaid
• Orpheus – the gift taken away
• Romeo and Juliet – boy meets girl.
• Tristan and Isolde – the love triangle, eternal or otherwise

This struck a chord with me as it resonated strongly with the many thoughts I had had over the years all based on that one simple quote and so I found myself asking again – is it true that there’s nothing new under the sun?