World Mythology: A Very Short Introduction

David A. Leeming

Okt 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Kimesimuliwa na Andy Ingalls

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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."

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David A. Leeming 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.

Andy Ingalls is an award-winning actor and narrator originally from Houston, Texas, and now based in New York, where he recently received his MFA from NYU Tisch's Grad Acting program. Andy is also proud to be the founder and artistic director of the Round Robin, an ongoing Shakespeare project in New York.