Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths

by Eva M. Thury, Margaret K. Devinney

Overview

"This fifth edition of our text incorporates into its cover design motifs that illustrate some of the ways we find mythology interesting: it represents a timeless tradition, and yet one that is ever being remade and reformulated to be completely fresh. This edition includes new chapters on the American blockbuster film Black Panther and on The Half-God of Rainfall, an African-American epic poem that fuses Classical Greek and Yoruba Nigerian mythology. Also in this edition, we have added considerable new material to the discussion of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey by offering insights from Christopher Vogler's Writer's Journey that include corrections and refinements of Campbell's thinking. This material contains significant discussion of I Am Legend, the 2007 film about the confrontation between Dr. Robert Neville and the vampire-like creatures that result from his research, and other versions of this story going back to the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson. In addition, Chapter 11 now provides extensive new material that enriches our understanding of the Mesoamerican Maya rituals and culture. As in previous editions, we delight in continuing and expanding the multiple perspectives we have been able to provide in this book for traditional stories, suggesting that they are in some ways eternal and immutable, while showing how we see them differently because of the world we live in and the particular kinds of insights that have become available to us as a result"--

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197671313
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/03/2025
Edition description:	5th ed.
Pages:	1008
Product dimensions:	8.02(w) x 9.97(h) x 1.64(d)

About the Author

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

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

Table of Contents

*=New to this Edition, Preface, Time LinePART I. INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING MYTH1. What Is Myth? 2. Ways of Understanding MythPART 2. MYTHS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION2A. Creation3. Greece: Hesiod4. Rome: Ovid (Creation)5. The Bible: Genesis (Creation)6. Mesopotamia: Enuma Elish7. 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 Nigeria10. China: Nü Kwa, Kuan Yin, and Monkey11. Mesoamerica: Popol Vuh2B. Destruction12. Rome: Ovid (Flood)13. The Bible: Genesis (Flood)14. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Ragnarok)PART 3. HEROES AND TRICKSTERS15. Theory: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Dave Whomsley16. Mesopotamia: The Epic of Gilgamesh17. Applying Theory: A Lévi-Straussian Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh, G. S. Kirk18. India: The Ramayana19. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Heroes)* 20. Arthurian Legend: The Holy Grail, Donna Lynne Rondolone21. Africa: The Mwindo Epic22. Greece: Oedipus the King, Sophocles23. Theory: The Structural Study of Myth, Claude Lévi-Strauss24. North America: Raven25. African and African-American Trickster Stories26. Greece: Prometheus27. Applying Theory: Different Versions of MythsPART 4. RITUAL AND MYTH28. Theory: The Forest of Symbols, Victor Turner29. Greece: Demeter and Persephone30. Egypt: Isis and Osiris31. Applying Theory: Meals in the Bible, Mary Douglas32. Icelandic/Norse: The Rituals of Iceland, H.R. Ellis Davidson33. Greece: Heracles and DionysusPART 5. DREAMS AND MYTH34. Theory: Man and His Symbols, C.G. Jung35. Applying Theory: How to Perform a Jungian AnalysisPART 6. FOLKTALE AND MYTH36. Theory: The Morphology of the Folktale, Vladimir Propp37. Applying Theory: A Proppian Analysis of The Wizard of Oz38. Germany: Grimms' Household Tales39. Rome: "Cupid and Psyche," Apuleius40. Applying Theory: Highlighting Different Aspects of the Same Tale Using Multiple AnalysesPART 7. CONTEMPORARY MYTH41. Daniel Boone: Building the Myth around the Man, Richard Slotkin42. Stagecoach and Firefly: The Journey into the Unknown in Westerns and Science Fiction, Fred Erisman43. Harry Potter: A Rankian Analysis of the Hero of Hogwarts, M. Katherine Grimes44. The Vampire as Hero: Tales of the Undead in a Contemporary Context, Eva M. ThuryPART 8. LITERATURE AND MYTH45. Poetry and Myth46. "Yellow Woman": Native-American Oral Myth in a Contemporary Context, Leslie Marmon Silko47. Narrative and Myth, Glossary of Gods, Heroes, and Antiheroes, Additional Works Cited, Credits, Index

Editorial Reviews

"Introduction to Mythology is a first-class textbook. I have looked around at many other texts and there are very few with the breadth and depth of this book."—Marjorie Berman, Red Rocks Community College

"This is an excellent guide to world mythology for both students and teachers. It is especially helpful to a teacher trying to cover a lot of global ground in a comprehensive mythology course. Few would have the expertise commanded by the two authors to cover everything from Native American through African through contemporary film myths."—Micaela Janan, Duke University

"I've taught world mythology for twenty-five years, using a variety of texts over that time, and the Thury and Devinney textbook is by far the best and most valuable resource on the market. I have been using it since the first edition and haven't yet seen a superior work."—Marvin D. L. Lansverk, Montana State University

"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."—Bob G. Warren, Valencia College

From the Publisher