Myth: A Biography of Belief-Fast Shipping

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Title: Myth: A Biography of Belief

Author: David Leeming

ISBN: 9780195142884

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2001

Binding: Hardcover

Language: English

Edition: 1st

Condition Note: Clean, unmarked copy with some edge wear. Good binding. Dust jacket included if issued with one. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.

Publisher : Joseph Campbell wrote that mythology is the wonderful song of the soul’s high adventure. In Myth, David Leeming considers the role this wonderful song has to play in a world increasingly dependent on scientific and technical information.
Exploring classic works such as the Song of Songs, the Tao Te Ching, the Rg Veda, the New Testament, and the Indonesian myth of Hainuwele, Myth reveals the cultural energies that ancient mythmakers sought to corral in their creations. Leeming argues that myths are, by definition, evolving creations that live on in the work of modern-day mythmakers such as W.B. Yeats, Virginia Woolf, and Albert Einstein. Leeming provides an engaging new outlook on the role of myth in the works of these and other contemporary artists and scientists. The similarities between modern concepts like the Big Bang and ancient myths of creation illustrate our continuing need to confront the mysteries of existence by way of metaphor and narrative. Leeming suggests that myth and factual knowledge do not negate, but complement each other.
Whether it is the American Dream, alien abduction, or belief in virgin birth and resurrection, these living myths play a very therapeutic role in the development of a healthy society. In Myth: A Biography of Belief, David Leeming shows that myths are still a fitting way to capture the soul’s high adventure.