There is a magician named Paul Harris who is one of the most amazing magicians and storytellers I have ever known. He travels a lot and owns practically nothing and while I'm not entirely sure he qualifies as "homeless" he is often thought to be so. But this man is a man that is full of wonders and beautiful works of art that just seem to emanate from him. He has an entirely different perspective on magic than anyone I have ever known. He does not view magic as something to use to make money off of people. Rather he sees it as a gift that he gives to each person he meets. He wrote a series of three books which relate this philosophy of magic called the "Art of Astonishment." He discusses what astonishment and wonder are and how they are what the performer strives for, because they bring the audience back to a time when the world was mysterious yet wonderful and large yet simple. I love what he has to say of these things but what does the word astonish mean and why does it matter to storytelling?
The word astonish is traced back through middle English 'astonyen' and Old French 'estoner' and eventually back to Vulgar Latin 'extonāre." The Latin word breaks down into 'ex' meaning "out" and 'tonare' meaning "to thunder." Literally this would translate into a word in English such as "Thunderstruck" (also a pretty a good song by ACDC I might add). Astonish can mean many things such as surprise and amazement or even shock and awe.
What it means to storytelling: As storytellers we invite our audience into different worlds, some very similar to our own, some very different. But always we are drawing them away from their own current reality, even if only for a moment, to experience something outside of themselves, something... amazing, something... astonishing. When we do this something inside of our audience is drawn out, the thunder is drawn out of them. This can be a good reaction or a bad reaction, people may throw roses or they may throw beer bottles. All depends on your venue and your content I guess, but the idea is still there that some reaction and emotion has been brought to the surface that previously may have been laying dormant.
Go forth and astonish the masses (just beware of flying bottles, they do hurt.... A LOT!!!).
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"Amazing," "astonish," "illusion," "conjure." All these words are piecing together for me a kind of consistent argument that somehow says, "ambiguation is also a useful and needed part of storytelling."
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