myth

From: David Cake <davidc_at_cs.uwa.edu.au>
Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 17:01:52 +0800


>When i have to think up such things i usually go to Claude
>Levi-Strauss' books on 'Mythologies,' and i can strongly suggest that you
>all take a look at his work.

        From what I know so far, there are serious flaws to the work on myth of just about everybody on the subject of myth, particularly including Levi-Strauss and Joseph Campbell. But any attempt to explain and categorise myth has got to be useful to anyone interested in looking at how to create myth, so my advice is to trust in no single theory (like a good post-structuralist). That given, as Levi-Strauss is both interesting and very far removed from Joseph Campbell in his opinions, he is probably a good person to look at second (Campbell remains the most important for a person coming from a Gloranthan interest, just because of the amount Campbell is used by Greg and others in formulating the Gloranthan concept of heroquesting).

        Cheers

                David (who is planning to present a talk on myth at a local
SF Con in January, so will probably write something nice up for the Glorantha-phile audience then. And I promise not to use the words emic or etic more than once.)

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