The Oxford Companion to World Mythology - Hardcover

Leeming, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195156692 ISBN 13: 9780195156690

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Cave paintings at Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain, fraught with expression thousands of years later; point to an early human desire to form a cultural identity. In the Oxford Companion to World Mythology, David Leeming explores the role of mythology, or myth-logic, in history and determines that the dreams of specific cultures add up to a larger collective story of humanity. Stopping short of attempting to be all-inclusive, this fascinating volume will nonetheless be comprehensive, opening with an introduction exploring the nature and dimensions of myth and proposing a definition as a universal language. Briefly dipping into the ways our understanding of myth has changed from Aristotle and Plato to modern scholars such as Joseph Campbell, the introduction loosely places the concept in its present context and precedes articles on influential mythologists and mythological approaches that appear later in the Companion.
The main body of Leeming's work consists of A-Z entries covering all aspects of mythology, including substantial essays on the world's major mythological traditions (Greek, Native American, Indian, Japanese, Sumerian, Egyptian), mythological types and motifs (Descent to the Underworld, the Hero, the Trickster, Creation, the Quest), mythological figures (Odysseus, Zeus, Osiris, Spider Woman, and Inanna) as well as numerous interrelated subjects such as fairly tales and legends. The Companion also locates myth in our lives today, relating it to language patterns, psychology, religion, politics, art, and gender attitudes. Many of the better-known and more significant myths are vividly retold in this volume that will be illustrated with maps, more than 70 black and white images, and eight pages of color highlighting the central role art has often played in the transmission and perpetuation of myth. Following the entries, a rich section of appendices will include family trees of the major pantheons, equivalency charts for the gods of Greece and Rome, Babylon and Sumer, as well as other traditions, an extensive bibliography, and an index.

About this title

About the Author:

David Leeming is an emeritus professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut.

From Booklist:

In the introduction to this work, Leeming, an emeritus professor of English and comparative literature who has written extensively on mythology, defines myths as "religious narratives that transcend the possibilities of common experience and that express any given culture's literal or metaphorical understanding of various aspects of reality." Covering a broad range of belief systems dating from prehistoric times to the twenty-first century, this compendium not only traces the myths of various cultures but also shows how a number of common elements thread through many sacred stories from disparate geographic areas.

Ranging in length from a single sentence to multiple pages, the approximately 1,500 entries cover deities and other mythological figures (Artemis, Job, Thor); heroic epics and other stories (Iliad, Volsunga Saga); motifs (Afterlife, Flood); mythologists (Campbell, Joseph; Frazer, Sir James); sacred books (Qur'an, Upanishads); and the mythologies of particular regions, religions, or cultures. Only a small percentage of the entries include references to sources for further information. Access is facilitated by a section that categorizes entries by cultural groups or broad topics, a network of cross-references, and an index. Adding visual appeal are a number of black-and-white illustrations and color plates, most of which reproduce artworks that depict mythological themes. Additional features include a lengthy bibliography, family trees for five major pantheons, and charts identifying Greek-Roman and Sumerian-Babylonian equivalent deities.

With more than twice as many entries, the two-volume Facts On File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend (2004) identifies many more mythological figures than does Leeming's work. In addition, specialized sources such as The Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion (2004) and Dictionary of Celtic Mythology (Oxford, 1998) offer more in-depth coverage of specific mythological cultures. The strength of The Oxford Companion to World Mythology lies in its overview articles on mythologies of particular eras and cultures and in its thematic entries that bring together mythological concepts from a variety of traditions.

Scholarly but rarely abstruse, this reasonably priced volume is particularly suitable for academic and larger public libraries. Marie Ellis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0195156692
• ISBN 13: 9780195156690
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 469