Myth: A Very Short Introduction by
Robert A. Segal My rating:
4 of 5 stars Amazon.in Page
Get Speechify to make any book an audiobook
This book situates myth amid the broader body of scholarship by examining what role myth plays within – or in opposition to – various academic disciplines, including: science, philosophy, religion, the study of ritual, literature, psychology, structuralism, and social studies. The book is organized so as to compare competing ideas of various major scholars in each of the aforementioned domains. So, as the blurb is upfront about, the book doesn't spend much time talking about what myths are, and the discussion of how myths are structured is only made as relevant to distinguishing various hypotheses.
One does obtain some food-for-thought about what myths are as one learns how different scholars have approached myth. Questions of how narrowly myth should be defined (e.g. only creation stories v. all god and supernatural tales,) and how myths compare to folktales, national literatures, and the like are touched upon. One also learns that some scholars took myths literally (and, therefore, saw them as obsolete in the face of science and modern scholarship,) but other scholars viewed myths more symbolically.
If you're looking for an introductory book to position myth in the larger scholarly domain and to examine competing hypotheses about myths, this is a great book for you. However, those who want a book that elucidates what myths are (and aren't) and how they are structured and to what ends, may find this book inadequate for those objectives. Just be aware of the book you're getting.
View all my reviews
No comments:
Post a Comment