Synopsis
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From the Author
ANDREW LANG (1844-1912), the son of the sheriff-clerk of rural Selkirkshire, was educated at Edinburgh Academy, the Universities of St. Andrews and Glasgow, and Balliol College, Oxford. A contemporary and friend of Robert Louis Stevenson, he produced a stunning variety and number of volumes, including books of poetry, novels, children's books, histories, and biographies, as well as criticism, essays, scholarly works of anthropology, and translations of classical literature.
From the Back Cover
First published in 1887, this early work of comparative mythology remains a vital resource to students and devotees of ethnography, history, and world legends. Lang's stunningly comprehensive overview of pre-scientific thinking provides an important perspective on the worldviews that molded and continue to influence modern thought.
In this, the first of two volumes, Lang begins with a minimum definition of religion--"the belief in a primal being, a Maker"--explores the differences between mythology and religion, discusses the problems of seeking the origins of the belief in a deity, and examines totem-ism, nature myths, and creation stories from around the globe, including Greece, Asia, Australia, Africa, and the New World.
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