World Mythology: A Very Short Introduction - Softcover

Leeming, David A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0197548261 ISBN 13: 9780197548264

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2023

Synopsis

The mythologies of the world are collective cultural dreams, and as such should be analyzed first from cultural perspectives. How do myths of the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, for instance, reflect the realities of the Egyptian and Greek cultures? When compared, however, mythologies reveal certain universal themes or motifs that point to larger trans-cultural issues such as the place of the human species in creation or the nature of deity as a concept.

World Mythology: A Very Short Introduction is organized around the universal motifs. Creation, the Flood, the Hero Quest, the Trickster/Culture Hero, the Pantheons, the High God, the Great Goddess. Veteran mythology scholar David Leeming examines examples of each motif from a variety of cultures--Greek, Egyptian, Norse, American Indian, African, Polynesian, Jewish, Christian, Hindu--treating them as reflections of the cultures that "dreamed" them. He compares and analyzes them, exposing their universal significance and creating a "world mythology."

About this title

About the Author

David A. Leeming received his BA from Princeton University and his PhD from NYU. He taught for eight years at Robert College in Istanbul and for many years as a Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut. Leeming is the author of many books on the mythologies of various cultures, including the Oxford Companion to World Mythology and The World of Myth.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0197548261
• ISBN 13: 9780197548264
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160