Description
Book SynopsisOffers an integrated critical account of the career of myth in modernity. This book examines the work of five theorists who attempt to come to terms with the lessons of the ideological critique and yet regard myth as a constructive phenomenon.
Trade ReviewVon Hendy (English, Boston College) begins his study with the 18th—century re—creation of the concept of myth and traces its development through three subsequent classes of theories, all deriving from the romantic or transcendental theory: the ideological, the folkloric, and the constitutive, each of which persists today. The book's organization is basically chronological, but, because of the complex interdisciplinarity of writings on myth, it is also partly taxonomic and partly evaluative. Whereas other mythographers tend to concentrate on the mature theories of the writers, Von Hendy explores the development of the theories and the influences on them. His grasp of the subject is masterful; his elucidation of the genealogy of the theories and his evaluation of them are exceptional in their comprehensiveness. His style, however, is unusually dense and laborious. Although there is some overlap with William Doty's Mythography: The Study of Myths and Rituals, (1986; 2nd ed., 2000), Jan de Vries' Forschungsgeschichte der Mythologie (1961), and The Rise of Modern Mythology 1680—1860, compiled by Burton Feldman and Robert Richardson (CH, Oct'72), Von Hendy's work is sui generis. More than a study of myth, it is an exploration of modern human cultural and intellectual history. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.
-- S. M. Most * Choice *
Whereas other mythographers tend to concentrate on the mature theories of the writers, Von Hendy explores the development of the theories and the influences on them. His grasp of the subject is masterful; his elucidation of the genealogy of the theories and his evaluation of them are exceptional in their comprehensiveness. . . .July 2002
* Choice *
Table of ContentsPreliminary Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
One. From Fable to Myth
Two. The Invention of Myth
Three. The Contest Between Myth and "Suspicion"
Four. Myth As an Aspect of "Primitive" Religion
Five. The Role of Depth-Psychology in the Construction of Myth
Six. The Modernist Contribution to the Construction of Myth
Seven. Neo-Romantic Theories of the Mid-Century I: Myth As Mode of Thought and Language
Eight. Neo-Romantic Theories of the Mid-Century II: Myth and Ritual in Quotidian Western Life
Nine. Folkloristic Myth in Social Anthropology I: Malinowski, Boas, and Their Sphere of Influence
Ten. Folkloristic Myth in Social Anthropology II: From Levi-Strauss to Withdrawal from Grand Theory
Eleven. No Two-Headed Greeks: The Folkloristic Consensus in Classical Studies
Twelve. Myth and Ideology
Thirteen. Myth As Necessary Fiction
Notes
Works Cited
Index
