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Author Topic: A Short History of Myth  (Read 3254 times)

RandallS

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A Short History of Myth
« on: February 10, 2014, 08:37:48 am »


Title: A Short History of Myth
Author(s): Karen Armstrong
Publisher: Canongate U.S.
Publication Date: October 2006
ISBN: 184195800X
ISBN-13: 978-1841958002
Current Price and More Info from Amazon

[size=+1]Description:[/size]
“Human beings have always been mythmakers.” So begins best-selling writer Karen Armstrong’s concise yet compelling investigation into myth: what it is, how it has evolved, and why we still so desperately need it. She takes us from the Paleolithic period and the myths of the hunters right up to the “Great Western Transformation” of the last five hundred years and the discrediting of myth by science. The history of myth is the history of humanity, our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, which link us to our ancestors and each other. Heralding a major series of retellings of international myths by authors from around the world, Armstrong’s characteristically insightful and eloquent book serves as a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense—and explains why if we dismiss it, we do so at our peril.

[size=+1]Special Notes:[/size]


[size=-1]Legal Notes: Some description text and item pictures in this post may come from Amazon.com and are used by permission. The Cauldron is an Amazon Affiliate and purchases made through the Amazon links in this message help support The Cauldron.[/size]

[size=+1]Discussion and reviews of this book are welcome in this thread. If you've read the book, please tell us what you think of it and why.[/size]
Randall
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Altair

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Re: A Short History of Myth
« Reply #1 on: February 13, 2014, 04:36:28 pm »
Quote from: RandallS;139345


Title: A Short History of Myth
Author(s): Karen Armstrong
Publisher: Canongate U.S.
Publication Date: October 2006
ISBN: 184195800X
ISBN-13: 978-1841958002
Current Price and More Info from Amazon


This short paperback is an easy read; you could polish it off in a day. As a very broad overview of myth developing in parallel to the societies it's a part of, I found it intriguing. My hesitation is the "very broad" part; I wonder if, in trying to reach general conclusions, too much specificity may have been shed. Moreover, Armstrong cites Joseph Campbell a number of times, and he can be problematic for the same reason: taking an overly broad approach.

Still, I got sucked right in, and where she does go into detail about a specific mythos, I was enthralled. Her final chapter is probably most thought-provoking, since it laments the atrophying of myth in Western culture. She makes some interesting stabs at pegging contemporary art and esp. novels as the new mythmaking. I wonder; is that really the case?
The first song sets the wheel in motion / The second is a song of love / The third song tells of Her devotion / The fourth cries joy from the sky above
The fifth song binds our fate to silence / and bids us live each moment well / The sixth unleashes rage and violence / The seventh song has truth to tell
The last song echoes through the ages / to ask its question all night long / And close the circle on these pages / These, the metamythos songs

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