MYTH CRITICISM
(CAMBRIDGE RITUALISTS / MYTHOPOEISIS)

Mythology, from the Greek muthos (story, legend) and logos (account , speech) is any body or cycle of myths – a narrative, oral tradition, or a popular belief or assumption, based on the legendary heroes of a culture.  Mythology sometimes involves supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity.  Mythology is also branch of knowledge dealing with the collection, study and interpretation of myths or fables. 

Mythography refers to the composing and writing of myths in literature and the arts.

Myth Criticism refers to the use of a mythological-oriented approach in the study of literature and the arts.

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SUB-PAGES

Philosophers / Theorists:

• Cambridge Ritualists:

  • Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928)

  • James Frazer (1854 - 1941) (see also Culture)

  • Gilbert Murray (1866 - 1957)

  • Francis Macdonald Cornford (1873 - 1943)

• Ernst Cassirer (1874 - 1945) (see also Idealism)

• Robert Graves (1895 - 1985)

• G. Wilson Knight (1897 - 1984)

• Francis Fergusson (1904 – 1986)

• Mircea Eliade (1907 - 1986) (see also Religion)

• Northrop Frye (1912 - 1991)

• René Girard (1923 - )

Related Pages:

• Jungian Archetypal Critical Theory

ASSOCIATIONS

• The Mythopoeic Society

CONFERENCES

2007:

• Faith, Myth and Literary Creation since 1850, Lille Catholic University, Lille, France May 18-19
• Anglo-German Mythologies in Literature, the Visual Arts and Cultural Theory, Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, Queen Mary, University of London, April 25-27

2006:

• Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil, Mansfield College, Oxford, September 18-21

2005:

• Consequentiality: Mythology, Theology, Ontology, Sydney, July 11-13

2004:

• Reasons of the Heart: Myth, Meaning and Education, University of Edinburgh, September 9-12
• Bridges to Other Worlds: Thirty-five Years of Mythopoeic Scholarship, 35rd Annual Mythopoeic Conference (Mythcon XXXV), University of Michigan, July 30-August 2

2003:

2002:

2001:

2000:

COURSES

• Rutgers University: In Search of Cupid and Psyche: Myth and Legend in Children's Literature (Joseph)

JOURNALS

• Mythlore

SOURCES: PRIMARY

Off-Line:

• Anthologies:

  • Miranda, Pierre, ed.  Mythology: Selected Readings.  Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.

  • Rehnolds, Frank, and David Tracy, eds.  Myth and Philosophy.  Albany: SUNY Press, 1990.

  • Vickery, John, ed.  Myth and Literature: Contemporary Theory and Practice.  Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1966.

• Selected Individual Works:

  • Barber, C. L.  Shakespeare's Festive Comedy: a Study of Dramatic Form and its Relation to Social Custom.  1959.

  • Booker, Christopher.  The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories.  London: Continuum, 2005.

  • Burkert, Walter.  Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual.  Berkeley: U of California P, 1979.

  • Bush, Douglas.  Mythology and the Romantic Tradition in English Poetry.  1937.

  • Cook, Arthur B.  Zeus: A Study in Ancient Religion.  3 vols.  1914-40.

  • Coupe, Laurence.  Myth.  London: Routledge, 1997.

  • Csapo, Eric.  Theories of Mythology.  2005.

  • Doty, William G.  Mythography: the Study of Myths and Rituals.  1986.

  • Evans-Pritchard, Edward.  Theories of Primitive Religion.  1965.

  • Feldman, B., and R. D. Richardson.  The Rise of Modern Mythology, 1680-1860.  London: , 1975.

  • Fontenrose, Joseph.  The Ritual Theory of Myth.  1966.

  • Hyman, Stanley Edgar.  "The Ritual View of Myth and the Mythic."  Myth and Literature: Contemporary Theory and Practice.  Ed. John Vickery.  Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1966.

  • Kirk, G. S.  Myth: its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures.  Cambridge: CUP, 1970.

  • Knight, G. Wilson.  The Wheel of Fire.  1930.

  • McCaffrey, Isabel.  Paradise Lost as 'Myth'.  1959.

  • Segal, Robert  A.  "The Myth-Ritualist Theory of Religion."  Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 19 (1980): .

  • Thomson, George.  Aeschylus and Athens: a Study in the Social Origins of Drama.  1941.

  • Versnel, H. S.  "What's Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander: Myth and Ritual, Old and New."  Approaches to Greek Mythology.  Ed. Lowell Edmunds.  1989.

  • Weston, Jessie L.  From Ritual to Romance.  1920.

On-Line:

• Wikipedia Encyclopedia: Cambridge Ritualists

SOURCES: SECONDARY

Off-Line:

• Anthologies:

  • Calder, William M., ed.  The Cambridge Ritualists Reconsidered.  Atlanta: Scholar's Press, 1991.

  • McCune, Marjorie, Tucker Orbison, and Philip Withim, eds.  The Blinding of Proteus: Perspectives on Myth and the Literary Process.  Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell UP, 1980.

• Selected Individual Works:

  • Ackerman, Robert.  The Myth and Ritual School: J. G. Frazer and the Cambridge Ritualists.  New York: Garland, 1991.

  • Ackerman, Robert.  “Fortunes Of Cambridge: Myth And Ritual In Anglo-American Criticism.”  Social Science Information 15 (1976): 6: 919-28.

  • Arlen, Shelley.  The Cambridge Ritualists: An Annotated Bibliography of the Works by and About Jane Ellen Harrison, Gilbert Murray, Francis M. Cornford, and Arthur Bernard Cook.  Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1990.

  • Brooker, Christopher.  The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories.  London: Continuum, 2005.

  • Falck, Colin.  Myth, Truth and Literature.  1989.

  • Gould, Eric.  Mythical Intentions in Modern Literature.  1981.

  • Harland, Richard.  "Myth Criticism and Northrop Frye."  Literary Theory from Plato to Barthes.  London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999.  194-199.

  • Leitch, Vincent B.  "Myth Criticism."  American Literary Criticism from the 30s to the 80s.  New York: Columbia UP, 1988.  115-147.

  • Manganaro, Marc.  Myth, Rhetoric, and the Voice of Authority: a Critique of Frazer, Eliot, Frye, and Campbell.  1992.

  • Nash, Christopher.  "Myth and Modern Literature."  The Context of English Literature, 1900-1930.  Ed. Michael Bell.  London: Methuen, 1980.  160-185.

  • Vickery, John.  Robert Graves and the White Goddess.  Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1972.

On-Line:

• Arlen, Shelley: Web Supplement to Cambridge Ritualists Bibliography (see Arlen above)

• Gras, Vernon: Cambridge Ritualists (Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism)

• Guerin, Wilfred: A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature: Mythological and Archetypal Approaches

• Manganaro, Marc: Anthropological Theory and Criticism (Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism)

• Reeves, Charles Eric: Myth Theory and Criticism (Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism)

• Wikipedia Encyclopedia:

  • Cambridge Ritualists

  • Mythography

  • Mythology

  • Mythopoiesis

  • Ritual

UNIVERSITY PROGRAMMES / RESEARCH CENTRES / RESEARCH PROJECTS

USA:

• Pacific Graduate Institute: MA and PhD in Mythological Studies

WWW GATEWAYS

• Mythos and Logos: Myth and Metaphor

QUOTES

• "Mythological representations have been neither invented nor freely accepted. The products of a process independent of thought and will, they were, for the consciousness which underwent them, of an irrefutable and incontestable reality. Peoples and individuals are only the instruments of this process, which goes beyond their horizon and which they serve without understanding."  (F. W. J. Schelling Introduction to Philosophy and Mythology)

PHILWEB was last updated: August 28, 2007

PHILWEB is edited by Richard L. W. Clarke

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