Recommended books?
Zspider
appreciate a few book recommendations on the subject for a
beginner. I notice in another post Kice Brown quotes from
Timothy Gantz's _Early Greek Myth_. Is this a good intro or
more of a scholarly endeavor?
Thank you, Michael Robison
Kice Brown
"Zspider" <robi...@crane.navy.mil> wrote in message
news:2774a1e1.03070...@posting.google.com...
I'd call Gantz's book more of an advanced introductory book -- what it
provides is a temporal sequence in Greek literature and graphic arts of the
presentations and versions of the stories about the various deities and
heroes involved in Greek myth. It deals with the myths with precision.
For a lyrical less precise introduction to the Greek myths I'd recommend
Roberto Calasso's _The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony_. His book starts
with this paragraph.[quote] On a beach in Sidon a bull was aping a lover's
coo. It was Zeus. He shuddered, the way he did when a gadfly got him. But
this time it was a sweet shuddering. Eros was lifting a girl onto his back:
Europa. Then the white beast dived into the sea, his majestic body rising
just far enought above the water to keep the girl from getting wet. There
were plenty of witnesses. Triton answered the amorous bellowing with a
burst on his conch. Trembling, Europa hung on to one of the bull's long
horns. Boreas spotted them too as they polowed through the waves. Sly and
jealous, he whistled when he saw the young breasts his breath had uncovered.
High above, Athena blushed at the sight of her father bestraddled by a girl.
An Achaean sailor saw them and gasped. Could it be Tethys, eager to see the
sky? Or just some Nereid with clothes on her back for a change? Or was it
that trickster Poseidon carrying off another wench? [end quote]
However, before reading Calasso I'd recommend H.J. Rose's _A Handbook of
Greek Mythology_ and also Karl (or Carl) Kerenyi's two volumes _The Gods of
the Greeks_ and _The Heroes of the Greeks_. Surprisingly good is _The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Classical Mythology_. Another good introduction
is the compendium of myths _The "Library"_ supposedly written in the 2nd
century BC by Apollodoros of Athens but more likely written in the 1st or
2nd century AD. A translation with notes by Robin Hard is published by
Oxford University Press as _The Library of Greek Mythology_ by Apollodorus.
I've got to run, but I'll return later with some more recommendations
regarding Nordic & Celtic mythology & Indo-European comparisons -- tho
others might beat me on those. Kice Brown
Chris Siren
A while back this question went around and some answers got put into
the FAQ ( http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze33gpz/mythgenfaq.html )
V. What about other resources? Where can I find more information?
A. Offline
i. What books should every myth fan have in their library?
We asked some of the frequent posters to alt.mythology, and here
are their recommendations:
Barnstone, Willis ed., The Other Bible, Harper Collins, New York,
1984. This volume collects a number of excerpts from
extra-canonical works - those that didn't make it into the
official Bible. Here they are organized by theme and would
otherwise require hunting through collections of pseudepigrapha
& apocrypha.
Bullfinch, Thomas Mythology (Includes The Age of Fable, The Age of
Chivalry and Legends of Charlemagne) Bullfinch's work is a
digest of classical mythology, Arthurian and Carolingian
Legends, as
well as a bit about Egyptian and Norse mythology.
Dalley, Stephanie Myths from Mesopotamia, Oxford University Press,
New York, 1990. The most recent collection of the major
Babylonian myths is also among the least expensive and more
enjoyable reads.
Gantz, Jeffrey, The Mabinogion, Viking Penguin Inc., New York,
1976. There are other good translations of this collection of
Welsh legends but Gantz is highly readable, easy to find and has
some useful notes.
Gill, Sam and Sullivan, Irene, Dictionary of Native American
Mythology Few books on "Native American Mythology" are any good
at being resprentative of the wide range of myths and legends of
the various Native American peoples. This one of the best and is
quite helpful in researching various Native American myth and
legend particulars and motifs.
Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths. There is an old Braziller edition
as well as newer ones.
Jones, Alison LaRousse Dictionary of World Folklore This little
volume covers a wide range of topics - mythology, folklore,
symbolism, legend, and superstitions. Where else can you look up
lucky charms, the Jersey Devil, the Norns, and vampires in one
book? ;)
Lurker, Manfred, Dictionary of God and Goddesses, Devils and
Demons This is just way tooooo handy of a volume to look up all
those
deities one is just not familiar with.
Ovid, The Metamorphoses. Many famous myths made poetical.
Pritchard James B., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1955. There is
also a 1969 supplement to this work, as well as a companion
volume, The Ancient Near East in Pictures. It used to be the
authoritative source for all complete texts of the Sumerians,
Babylonians, Canaanites, Hittites although now there are more
recent, separate translations. It's pricy but many libraries
have a copy and there is a much more affordable, abridged
paperbound
version.
Sproul, Barbara Primal Myths. The only cross-cultural collection I
know of which collects the stories in as close to their original
form as possible. It gives only creation myths, but it includes
myths from all parts of the world.
Runners up:
Green, Miranda, Dictionary of Celtic Myth and Legend
Erdoes, Richard and Ortiz Alfonso eds. American Indian Myths and
Legends
Pennick, Nigel and Jones, Prudence A History of Pagan Europe
Zimmerman's Dictionary of Classical Mythology
Chris Siren
Chris Siren
http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze33gpz/mythsources.html
Chris Siren
Zspider
> I've got to run, but I'll return later with some more recommendations
> regarding Nordic & Celtic mythology & Indo-European comparisons -- tho
> others might beat me on those.
**********
Thanks for the recommendations. I was happy to see you mention
Calasso's _The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony_, as I just received
it in the mail. I've copied down the others you mentioned and
look forward to more.
Thanks again, Michael Robison
Kice Brown
A few additional volumes -- first another Greek one (a little more
advanced than introductory) Charles Penglase's _Greek Myths and
Mesopotamia: Parallels and Influence in the Homeric Hymns and Hesiod_. Then
two books by H.R. Ellis Davidson: _Gods and Myths of Northern Europe_ and
_Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic
Religions_. Finally, two books concerning Indo-European mythologies: Jaan
Puhvel's _Comparative Mythology_ and C. Scott Littleton's _The New
Comparative Mythology: An Anthropological Assessment of the Theories of
Georges Dumezil_ (Third edition).
There are also some "mythological novels" that I've found enjoyable, often
even upon rereading. Mary Renault's _The King Must Die_ and _The Bull from
the Sea_, which together constitute an "autobiography" of Theseus are the
first you should read -- I'd recommend scanning Ms. Renault's presentation
of the Theseus mythos printed at the end of each volume before reading the
novels themselves. Ms. Renault's novels show her familiarity with
archaeological canon of the 1950's as well as an understanding of the myth
and ritual arguments. Of course, ultimately such novels are euhermeristic.
With regard to the northern mythos I'd recommend Stephen Grundy's
_Rhinegold_, a novelization of Wagner's Ring Series -- there are also
translations in print of _The Saga of the Volsungs_ itself.
Kice
Zspider
at the FAQ. I thought I had seen a FAQ here that was just some
silly spammed astrology/tarot thing, but I must have been thinking
of another group.
I browsed through the FAQ. It answered some questions I had and
I was pleased that even after reading just one book on mythology
I knew the answer to some of the questions. For someone just
getting into mythology, coming up to speed looks like an over-
whelming task.
After reading several posts on recommended books, I was starting
to wonder why Joseph Campbell wasn't suggested. One of the FAQ
questions answered that to a certain extent. Being a newbie, I
obviously was drawn to him and I've got his POWER OF MYTH and I
still plan on reading it, but I will keep in mind the skepticism
that the FAQ suggested towards his work.
Thanks, Michael Robison
dan
Chris Siren
>Thanks for the suggestions, Chris. I apologize for not looking
>at the FAQ. I thought I had seen a FAQ here that was just some
>silly spammed astrology/tarot thing, but I must have been thinking
>of another group.
>
>
Well you may have seen something called a FAQ like that here,
but the person responsible for it is a troll of a rather
tennacious sort. The more official FAQ isn't as easy to find for
this group as some others as it hasn't been sent through
news.answers & rtfm.mit.edu, but it should show up if you google
the newsgroup and the term FAQ.
>I browsed through the FAQ. It answered some questions I had and
>I was pleased that even after reading just one book on mythology
>I knew the answer to some of the questions. For someone just
>getting into mythology, coming up to speed looks like an over-
>whelming task.
>
>After reading several posts on recommended books, I was starting
>to wonder why Joseph Campbell wasn't suggested. One of the FAQ
>questions answered that to a certain extent. Being a newbie, I
>obviously was drawn to him and I've got his POWER OF MYTH and I
>still plan on reading it, but I will keep in mind the skepticism
>that the FAQ suggested towards his work.
>
>
Campbell is still good to read (or watch or listen to, I have some
of his lectures on tape) - just note that he can over-generalize.
Chris Siren
Larry Caldwell
> After reading several posts on recommended books, I was starting
> to wonder why Joseph Campbell wasn't suggested. One of the FAQ
> questions answered that to a certain extent. Being a newbie, I
> obviously was drawn to him and I've got his POWER OF MYTH and I
> still plan on reading it, but I will keep in mind the skepticism
> that the FAQ suggested towards his work.
Campbell's four volume _The Masks of God_ is of variable interest, but
the volume on Occidental Mythology (volume 3?) is excellent. His
syncretistic approach is perfect for pointing out how much Greek myth
actually originated in Asia Minor and the Middle East. Adonis got his
name from Adonai, the semitic name for "lord". OTOH, Bacchus is
generally thought to be an import from the east, but he is one of the few
gods mentioned in Linear B sources. If he was imported into Greece, he
arrived before most of the Olympian pantheon.
Kice Brown
"Larry Caldwell" <lar...@teleport.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.19726a49...@newstest2.earthlink.net...
It was through the _Masks of God_ series that I discovered Campbell, back in
the mid 1970s. I found his discussions of shamanism in the first volume
_Primitive Mythology_ quite fascinating, but that was my introduction to the
topic to any comprehensive degree. I'd recommend Eliade's _Shamanism_ now
instead. The physical anthropology in the book, and the conclusions drawn
from that suffer from being up to date circa early 1950s, both in substance
and theory. The series of books published after Campbell's death don't have
that problem and I'd recommend reading them as a replacement for _Primitive
Mythology_. These are basically coffee table books -- the two volume _Way
of the Animal Powers_ and the three volume _Way of the Seeded Earth_. IIRC,
both the 2nd and 3rd _Masks of God_ volumes _Oriental Mythology_ and
_Occidental Mythology_ cover the time periods from about 400 BC to 400 AD,
and while I read these books with a passion -- and got friends interested in
them as well, I don't recall particulars. I'd still recommend them,
however. What I really want to recommend, though, is Campbell's fourth
volume _Creative Mythology_, dealing mainly with Europe after 400 AD. This
IS a book that I have enjoyed rereading -- tho again that was back in the
1980s. Now that I'm retired and have more time on my hands (ha ha) I just
might pull it off my shelf again. I found the discussions of the Arthurian
and Grail mythos fascinating -- a new perspective on a familiar topic for
me -- but what I found most interesting was the parallelism Campbell
described between the novels of the Catholic-raised James Joyce and the
Protestant-raised Thomas Mann. As soon as I finished _Creative Mythology_
the first time, in fact. I picked up and read Thomas Mann's _Magic
Mountain_, with eyes enlightened by Campbell's critique. It recounts a
young man's sojourn at a tuberculosis sanitarium in the Alps until he is
finally cured and returns to the world to face WWI. It is a quest novel --
a journey in search of healing -- to an otherworldly locale. I've read this
novel more the once too, in fact.