Beschrijving

Compiling and critiquing modern theories and theorists of myth, this book offers an overview of theories around the origin and function of various mythologies and mythological figures, allowing wider theoretical claims to be made about the relationship between societies and their myths.

Comparing and evaluating modern theories of myth, this book offers an overview of explanations of myth from the social sciences and the humanities.

This ambitious collection of essays uses the viewpoints of a variety of disciplines – psychology, anthropology, sociology, politics, philosophy, religious studies, and literature. Each discipline advocates a generalization about the origin, the function, and the subject matter of myth. The subject is always not what makes any myth distinct but what makes all myths \