Introduction to Mythology covers mythology and also introduces the notion of myth in contemporary narrative form, all the while offering a coherent analytical group of ideas to explain why these themes we find in mythology are still in our narratives today. And it does so in one book. It is the only book I know of that takes such a comprehensive approach to the subject.

Autorentext

Eva M. Thury is Associate Professor of English at Drexel University.

Margaret K. Devinney is Associate Professor Emerita of German at Temple University.

Klappentext

Integrating original texts with explanations, interpretations, and theory, the best selling Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths, Fifth Edition, introduces students to a wide range of myths drawn from sources all around the world and approached from various critical and contemporary perspectives.

Inhalt

• Preface

• Timeline

• PART I. INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING MYTH

• 1. What Is Myth?
• 2. Ways of Understanding Myth

• PART 2. MYTHS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION

• 2A. Creation

• 3. Greece: Hesiod
• 4. Rome: Ovid (Creation)
• 5. The Bible: Genesis (Creation)
• 6. Mesopotamia: Enuma Elish
• 7. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Creation)
• 8. North America: Stories from the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo (Southwest); and from the Iroquois League (Northeastern Woodlands)
• 9. Africa: Uganda and Nigeria
• 10. China: Nü Kwa, Kuan Yin, and Monkey
• 11. Mesoamerica: Popol Vuh

• 2B. Destruction

• 12. Rome: Ovid (Flood)
• 13. The Bible: Genesis (Flood)
• 14. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Ragnarok)

• PART 3. HEROES AND TRICKSTERS

• 15. Theory: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Dave Whomsley
• 16. Mesopotamia: The Epic of Gilgamesh
• 17. Applying Theory: A Lévi-Straussian Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh, G. S. Kirk
• 18. India: The Ramayana
• 19. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Heroes)
• 20. Arthurian Legend: The Holy Grail, Donna Lynne Rondolone
• 21. Africa: The Mwindo Epic
• 22. Greece: Oedipus the King , Sophocles
• 23. Theory: The Structural Study of Myth, Claude Lévi-Strauss
• 24. North America: Raven
• 25. African and African-American Trickster Stories
• 26. Greece: Prometheus
• 27. Applying Theory: Different Versions of Myths

• PART 4. RITUAL AND MYTH

• 28. Theory: The Forest of Symbols, Victor Turner
• 29. Greece: Demeter and Persephone
• 30. Egypt: Isis and Osiris
• 31. Applying Theory: Meals in the Bible, Mary Douglas
• 32. Icelandic/Norse: The Rituals of Iceland, H.R. Ellis Davidson
• 33. Greece: Heracles and Dionysus

• PART 5. DREAMS AND MYTH

• 34. Theory: Man and His Symbols, C.G. Jung
• 35. Applying Theory: How to Perform a Jungian Analysis

• PART 6. FOLKTALE AND MYTH

• 36. Theory: The Morphology of the Folktale, Vladimir Propp
• 37. Applying Theory: A Proppian Analysis of The Wizard of Oz
• 38. Germany: Grimms' Household Tales
• 39. Rome: "Cupid and Psyche," Apuleius
• 40. Applying Theory: Highlighting Different Aspects of the Same Tale Using Multiple Analyses

• PART 7. CONTEMPORARY MYTH

• 41. Daniel Boone: Building the Myth around the Man, Richard Slotkin
• 42. Harry Potter: A Rankian Analysis of the Hero of Hogwarts, M. Katherine Grimes
• 43. "Dark of the World, Shine on Us": Ryan Coogler's Black Panther George Faithful

• PART 8. LITERATURE AND MYTH

• 44. Poetry and Myth
• 45. The Half-God of Rainfall: Classical and African Myth in an Epic Poem Inua Ellams
• 46. "Yellow Woman": Native-American Oral Myth in a Contemporary Context Leslie Marmon Silko
• 47. Narrative and Myth

• Glossary of Gods, Heroes, and Antiheroes

• Additional Works Cited

• Credits

• Index