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Publication Date:
22 Aug 2019
Publisher:
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:
Bloomsbury Academic
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 24 - 29 May 2024
Description
What is myth? Why do myths exist? What do myths do? Where are myths going?
This reader is organized into 4 parts which explore these questions. Drawing on over 10 years of experience teaching myth in religious studies and anthropology departments in the UK, USA and Continental Europe the editors have brought together key works in the theory of myth. Key features include:
- a general introduction to the reader that outlines a comparative and interpretative framework
- an introduction contextualizing each part and sub-section
- an introduction to each reading by the editors
- a companion website that provides discussion questions and further reading suggestions, including primary sources.
From functionalism to feminism, nationalism to globalization, and psychoanalysis to spatial analysis, this reader covers the classic and contemporary theories and approaches needed to understand what myth is, why myths exist, what they do, and what the future holds for them.
Contents
Acknowledgements
In Search of Mythology, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
Part One: What is Myth ?
Locating the Field, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. A Two-Dimensional Scheme for the Classification of Narratives, C. Scott Littleton
2. The Idea of Folklore, Daniel Ben Amos
3. Myth in Primitive Society, Bronislaw Malinowski
Part Two: Why do Myths Exist?
Section A: Global Theories of Myth
Are All Myths the Same? Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. Balder and the Mistletoe, James Frazer
2. The Myth of the Birth of the Hero, Otto Rank
3. The Historical Development of Mythology, Joseph Campbell
Section B: Myth and Dreams
(Dis)Embodied Mythology, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. Flying Saucers: a modern myth, Carl Gustav Jung
2. The Vampire as a Blood Thirsty Revenant, Alan Dundes
3. More than Stories, More than Myth, Amba Sepie
Section C: Myth and History
The Search for Truth, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. Myth and Reality, Mercia Eliade
2. The Original Elements of Mythology, Max Muller
3. Cú Chulainn's Women and some Indo-European Comparisons, Nicholas Allen
Part Three: What do Myths Do?
Section A: Structuralist Approaches
Myth and Meaning, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. Jewels and Wounds, Claude Lévi-Strauss
2. Pulleyar and the Lord Buddha, Edmund Leach
3. An Outline of Propp's Model for the Study of Wondertales, Manuel Aguirre
Section B: Neostructuralist Approaches
Beyond Binaries, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. We Think What We Eat, Seth Kunin
2. The Gun and the Bow, Stephen Hugh-Jones
3. The Meaning of Myth, Mary Douglas
Section C: Spatial Theories
From Page to Place, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. Myth Memory and the Oral Tradition, Frances Harwood
2. Implicit Mythology in the Shimla Hills, Jonathan Miles-Watson
3. Stone-Faced Ancestors: The Spatial Anchoring of Myth in Wamira, Miriam Khan
Part Four: Where are Myths Going
Section A: Myths and Popular Culture
What Good Are Old Stories? Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. Amateur Mythographies, Ika Willis
2. Storm Power, an Icy Tower and Elsa's Bower, Lauren Dundes, Madeline Streiff and Zachary Streiff
3. Science Fiction as Mythology, Marilyn Sutton and Thomas Sutton
Section B: The Future of Mythology
Mythological Terminalia, Jonathan Miles-Watson and
Vivian Asimos
1. Does Myth have a Future? Robert Segal
Copyright Acknowledgements
Index
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