Visiting novelist George Dawes Green cuts an elegant figure. He is tall, slim, clad in a knee length suit jacket with velvet cuffs and gold cufflinks.

He often takes his glasses off as he paces, ignoring the University Center stage parameters and occasionally staggering back and forth around the audience. He gives the impression of someone with too many stories floating around in his head.

Perhaps there are.

In his talk Wednesday night, Green discussed “The Art of the Raconteur,” a person who “tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way,” according to the dictionary. He started an organization called The Moth, where people gather and tell personal stories.

The Moth now has events across the U.S. and abroad, as well as an acclaimed podcast. Green has also created a video platform called Sudden Owl, which features one-minute stories told by Green’s friends. He shared some of them during his talk — emotional, profound anecdotes with diverse subject matter. For example, Brenda Mehlhorn shared an account of a boyfriend, a cabin fire and a jealous ex named “Big Titty Sharon.”

He frequently cited from 20th century modernist philosopher Walter Benjamin’s “Illuminations,” which have influenced what he sees as a type of formula for storytelling. Green used terms like “the nest” to mean a comfort zone or natural order that is invaded by a crisis called “the ravens.” The ravens are followed by a moment of wisdom, called “gnosis,” that we are given as a type of compensation for suffering.

“In a Hollywood story, what you’ll have is a prescription for how to turn things back to the good old times when the nest was perfect,” Green said. “In the really great, powerful stories, there really isn’t a return. Once the ravens disturb the nest, that will last forever. That pain will always be with us.

“But there’s always this great moment of wisdom, and that’s all we really earn. But it’s enough that it drives us to stories.”

Mariah Williford, freshman in English, attended the talk and said what she found most engaging was the passion he showed for stories, especially ones that are told orally.

“He conveyed how important storytelling is to our culture and to cultures dating all the way back to the dawn of human interaction,” Williford said. “I’m an English major, so I love stories, but I never really thought of oral storytelling as being still really prevalent.”

Green also talked about The Moth’s beginnings and related a story from author and HBO show creator Jonathan Ames, who told a story at an early Moth event about the first time he masturbated at age 12. Ames then brought the evidence of it to his mother because he was proud of what he had been able to do.

“The thought that anyone could tell a story that was very intimate and very vulnerable, these were very shocking stories, but they were beautiful,” Green said. “And that’s really when I began thinking about the power of vulnerability and the power of being able to tell stories in groups of people, just to stand up and tell personal stories.”