|
Author
|
Comment
|
denag
Registered User
(10/1/03 4:55 am)
|
a tall order, i know...
i'm doing a spot of amateur research. not fairy tales so much as mythology.
i would like to try to understand some of the influences have fed in to build the european worldviews of the last couple of hundred years. i'm very interested in how mythology is integrated into modern life (i'm thinking of the uses of mythic/religious imagery by politicians and leaders in particular).
i've been looking at online sources (variable quality) about comparative mythology, focussing on greek/roman, nordic, germanic and celtic, egyptian and sumerian, as well as mystery religions in various forms, and i now have much to read.
but if anyone can help me organise my studies (where to start, suggested reading, suggested order of tackling these subjects, any other helpful advice on teachin oneself in this way) i would be really grateful.
thanks all,
dena
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(10/2/03 8:10 am)
|
Very tall order, but why not start here
Dena,
This is a very interesting subject, but in order to understand it, I think you may need to start with a little earlier time period - say the Renaissance and go forward or backward in time from that point. This period of thought was highly influenced by the "rediscovery" (a term I use loosely) of the classics by the upper and emerging middle classes. You see it is philosophy, music and the arts, as well as theological and scientific texts. Mythology and/or classic thought has had an impact in Western European thought pretty much from that point forward. There are some interesting effects on tangantial fields such as fashion (see the popular costumes of around 1800 - thought to be a backlash to the extreme fashions of court life) and music (from the earliest operas, Euridyce and Orfeo, to Wagner's well-known use of Norse mythology in the Ring Trilogy to influence Germanic thought). One should not ignore the impact of archelogical finds in the 1800 and 1900's either.
You know, you could easily spend a lifetime looking at this and barely scratch the surface. I had a great little book (and I don't remember the title, but will find it for you) about the philosophy of thought and the debate over equal-tempered music. You would be amazed that in that small subject alone, how much influence mythology and classic thought had. Are you really sure you want to take this on (she asks rhetorically)?
Have fun,
Jess
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(10/2/03 8:14 am)
|
Ooh
I forgot to mention, you may want to read about the history of the
Free Masons. It is kind of interesting and will give you an idea
of just how pervasive your subject matter is.
Jess
|
Jess
Unregistered User
(10/2/03 8:24 am)
|
Brain not functioning yet
Dena,
Have you been to the University of Cambridge "Gateway" to the Classics website yet? Very good site.
Jess
|
denag
Registered User
(10/2/03 11:46 am)
|
oh jess thank you!
i just can't get over how kind people are on this site, offering helping hands to people like me. i shall check out Cambridge's gateway pronto.
regarding your rhetorical question - i guess you've realised i can't
help myself.
something is compelling me to wonder about these things, that i've taken for granted until now. i know i'll only be able to take in a tiny fraction of it all. i just can't rest if i know i'm ignoring it.
i take your pt about the renaissance. i wondered about that. it is very difficult picking a moment in time and saying "here is where i want to focus", because it will always be a product of the preceeding ages. but i have thought about the idea of "threshold" periods. i think of now (since WWII) as such an age (with our booming technology, which is changing our expectations of life so fast), and i've often thought of the (approx) victorian period as another threshold, with the advent of telegraph, railways, steam powered everything, etc. i suspect the renaissance was another such age. but really, all these "ages" are really so close together, is it fair to separate them out into blocks like that? but of course, if you don't separate them, the task of studying them can be terribly daunting.
i wholeheartedly agree about the music/fashion/philosphy/etc connection. It is exactly that - the way these things intermingle (so subtly that we often don't notice what our clothes, our music, our paintings, our politicians are saying) that fascinates me.
And I was intrigued to note your comment about Freemasonry. I know very little about this, but have been intending to do some reading on the subject. I sort of got an idea that FM would illustrate the way mythological ideas have passed through the centuries, and been incorprated into modern life in each generation. I have also been hoping to find out about the various other tradesmen's guilds (locksmiths being particularly interesting to me - now where would i find out about that? i've had no luck at all on the internet so far).
thanks again jess. i'm off home now to get started on my reading list!
|
ashkevron13
Unregistered User
(10/4/03 12:03 am)
|
some books I love
If you are interested in mythology, I might recomend you start with Joseph Campbell. His best known is "The Hero of a Thousand Faces". He talks about the basis for myth and common themes. And just for fun, if we're talking mythology in modern times, I recomend Neil Gaiman's "American Gods". There is just so much information. I have slowly been familarizing myself with each tradition as close to the sorce as possible. Good luck. Ash
|
Yukihada
Registered User
(10/7/03 10:53 pm)
|
very very tall order
You want to go into mythology...are you including Christianity in that. If you are going into Christianity there are so many branches of its mythology you could get quite lost starting with the knight templars and ending in Gnostic gospels. If you are however going for perhaps pervasive symbols in mythology that exist still today..then yes Joseph Campbell is a good start. If you are truly brave you might try The Golden Bough by Frazier. Otherwise Norse and Celtic mythologies will be primary althought there are so many common themes..the corn gods, the green men...even something as small as the sheela na gig over a doorway has such long long roots. At any rate...very good luck to you...hope you can narrow it down a bit that is such a great big topic.
|
Blackwolf
Unregistered User
(10/8/03 8:50 pm)
|
Camelot
... And more recently, the Kennedy administration had been called 'Camelot'. You might want to look into this as well.
Blackwolf
|
briggsw
Unregistered User
(10/10/03 6:25 am)
|
mythos
IMJ, the biggest influence of such myths is from Greece, because of classical education -- everyone was supposed to know what Paris did, etc.
A rough measure of how influential it is might be how many expressions we use from a group of writings. Without doubt we get more from KJV than anything. Shakespeare may be close, but then he did turn his phrases well. Then we have
tantalize
cut the Gordian knot
sword of Damocles
bed of Procrustes
face that launched a thousand ships
a Pandora's box
OTOH the world-worm, or giving up an eye for wisdom, is not commonly referred to.
|
denag
Registered User
(10/10/03 8:53 am)
|
Re: Camelot
that is very interesting. i'll definitely check it out. have you seen the tim robbins film bob roberts by the way? (not sure if true story - i thought it fiction though). it showed, among other things, how clever use of imagery and music, can turn a political movement into a cult, giving a modern leader apparently mythological-hero status, and sending his/her appeal far beyond the scope of rational argument.
|
Nav
Unregistered User
(10/13/03 9:49 pm)
|
Freemasons
Read "The Hiram Key." A fascinating work by someone who started off writing a history of the Masons and found much more. There are certain leaps in it ala "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" but much of the research is much stronger and some of it seems irrefuteable. In any case, a great read.
www.religionreference.com...12758.html
|
Blackwolf
Unregistered User
(10/14/03 7:17 am)
|
Re: Camelot
I haven't seen that movie though but thanks for the heads-up.
It's quite interesting to compare the 'mythos' - say - of the Kennedy administraton and the mythology surrounding King Arthur himself. Arthur didn't really became prominent as a literary and - I daresay - social figure pretty much into the late Middle Ages. His mythology was also the work (or the re-workings) of many writers and poets as well. More so when rulers themselves saw themselves as chivalric warrior-kings and patterning themselves after Arthur.
Blackwolf
|
Niniane
Sunyata
Registered User
(10/19/03 5:23 am)
|
Re: Campbell
As someone else has mentioned, Joseph Campbell is an excellent place to start, if you haven't already. Apart from "Myths to Live By", there's also the 4-volume "Masks of God" which is very comprehensive, always thought-provoking, and may induce you to hunt many more texts that he has mentioned, examined, or quoted.
"Creative Mythology", in particular, touches extensively on the mystery religions you've mentioned. Reading "Hero with a Thousand Faces" right now, but I started with "Masks of God" and I'd say it was a crash course!
Good Luck!
Anita Harris.
Terra Mythogene
www.mythopoetica.com
|
