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Darren Aronofsky

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Darren Aronofsky is an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His films are noted for their surreal, melodramatic, and often disturbing elements, usually based in psychological horror and drama.
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The Writers Journey book cover
The Writers Journey
Mythic Structure for Writers
Christopher Vogler - 2020-08-04 (first published in 1992)
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"Writers are storytellers. The best of them have utilized the principles of myth to create masterful stories that are dramatic, entertaining and psychologically true. Based on the work of Joseph Campbell, this edition provides an insider's look at how writers (both fiction and non-fiction) can utilize mythic structure to create powerful narratives....
Darren Aronofsky
Very good. But it’s only for people who are writing screenplays.      source
Also recommended by
James Gunn
On the Origin of Species book cover
On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin - 2017-02-07 (first published in 1859)
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Darwin's theory of natural selection issued a profound challenge to orthodox thought and belief: no being or species has been specifically created; all are locked into a pitiless struggle for existence, with extinction looming for those not fitted for the task. Yet The Origin of Species (1859) is also a humane and inspirational vision of ecological...
The Hero with a Thousand Faces book cover
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Joseph Campbell - 2008-07-27 (first published in 1949)
Goodreads Rating
Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbells revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In these pages, Campbell outlines the Heros Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all...
Darren Aronofsky
I'm totally part of his cult. Because I believe in that hero’s journey.      source
Carrie book cover
Carrie
Stephen King - 2005-11-01 (first published in 1974)
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Carrie knew she should not use the terrifying power she possessed... But one night at her senior prom, Carrie was scorned and humiliated just one time too many, and in a fit of uncontrollable fury she turned her clandestine game into a weapon of horror and destruction......
Darren Aronofsky
I proceeded to pound through procrastinating by reading Carrie, scaring the living crap out of myself.      source
Also recommended by
Meltem DemirorsElla Dawson
Requiem for a Dream book cover
Requiem for a Dream
Hubert Selby Jr. - 1999-10-12 (first published in 1978)
Goodreads Rating
In Coney Island, Brooklyn, Sarah Goldfarb, a lonely widow, wants nothing more than to lose weight and appear on a television game show. She becomes addicted to diet pills in her obsessive quest, while her junkie son, Harry, along with his girlfriend, Marion, and his best friend, Tyrone, have devised an illicit shortcut to wealth and leisure by scor...
Darren Aronofsky
I made this book into a film and even got pretty close to the author as a dear friend.      source
The Denial of Death book cover
The Denial of Death
Ernest Becker - 1997-05-08 (first published in 1973)
Goodreads Rating
Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's brilliant and impassioned answer to the "why" of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie -- man's refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so...
Darren Aronofsky
A good one.      source
Last Exit to Brooklyn book cover
Last Exit to Brooklyn
Hubert Selby Jr. - 1994-01-13 (first published in 1964)
Goodreads Rating
Last Exit to Brooklyn remains undiminished in its awesome power and magnitude as the novel that first showed us the fierce, primal rage seething in America’s cities. Selby brings out the dope addicts, hoodlums, prostitutes, workers, and thieves brawling in the back alleys of Brooklyn. This explosive best-seller has come to be regarded as a classic ...
Darren Aronofsky
I devoured it in a single night. I had never seen anyone attack the page like he did.      source
Howl and Other Poems book cover
Howl and Other Poems
Allen Ginsberg - 1958-12-31 (first published in 1956)
Goodreads Rating
Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems was originally published by City Lights Books in the Fall of 1956. Subsequently seized by U.S. customs and the San Francisco police, it was the subject of a long court trial at which a series of poets and professors persuaded the court that the book was not obscene.Howl & Other Poems is the single most influent...
Darren Aronofsky
A cry from the ‘60s for his generation. At least that’s the way I took it.      source