Integrating original texts with explanations, interpretations, and theory, the best selling Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths, Fifth Edition, introduces students to a wide range of myths drawn from sources all around the world and approached from various critical and contemporary perspectives.
By:
Eva M. Thury ( Drexel University),
Margaret K. Devinney (,
Temple University)
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 5th Revised edition
Dimensions:
Height: 253mm,
Width: 204mm,
Spine: 42mm
Weight: 2.341kg
ISBN: 9780197671313
ISBN 10: 0197671314
Pages: 1008
Publication Date: 09 June 2025
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Timeline PART I. INTRODUCTION TO STUDYING MYTH 1. What Is Myth? 2. Ways of Understanding Myth PART 2. MYTHS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION 2A. Creation 3. Greece: Hesiod 4. Rome: Ovid (Creation) 5. The Bible: Genesis (Creation) 6. Mesopotamia: Enuma Elish 7. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Creation) 8. North America: Stories from the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo (Southwest); and from the Iroquois League (Northeastern Woodlands) 9. Africa: Uganda and Nigeria 10. China: Nü Kwa, Kuan Yin, and Monkey 11. Mesoamerica: Popol Vuh 2B. Destruction 12. Rome: Ovid (Flood) 13. The Bible: Genesis (Flood) 14. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Ragnarok) PART 3. HEROES AND TRICKSTERS 15. Theory: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Dave Whomsley 16. Mesopotamia: The Epic of Gilgamesh 17. Applying Theory: A Lévi-Straussian Analysis of the Epic of Gilgamesh, G. S. Kirk 18. India: The Ramayana 19. Icelandic/Norse: Prose Edda (Heroes) 20. Arthurian Legend: The Holy Grail, Donna Lynne Rondolone 21. Africa: The Mwindo Epic 22. Greece: Oedipus the King , Sophocles 23. Theory: The Structural Study of Myth, Claude Lévi-Strauss 24. North America: Raven 25. African and African-American Trickster Stories 26. Greece: Prometheus 27. Applying Theory: Different Versions of Myths PART 4. RITUAL AND MYTH 28. Theory: The Forest of Symbols, Victor Turner 29. Greece: Demeter and Persephone 30. Egypt: Isis and Osiris 31. Applying Theory: Meals in the Bible, Mary Douglas 32. Icelandic/Norse: The Rituals of Iceland, H.R. Ellis Davidson 33. Greece: Heracles and Dionysus PART 5. DREAMS AND MYTH 34. Theory: Man and His Symbols, C.G. Jung 35. Applying Theory: How to Perform a Jungian Analysis PART 6. FOLKTALE AND MYTH 36. Theory: The Morphology of the Folktale, Vladimir Propp 37. Applying Theory: A Proppian Analysis of The Wizard of Oz 38. Germany: Grimms' Household Tales 39. Rome: ""Cupid and Psyche,"" Apuleius 40. Applying Theory: Highlighting Different Aspects of the Same Tale Using Multiple Analyses PART 7. CONTEMPORARY MYTH 41. Daniel Boone: Building the Myth around the Man, Richard Slotkin 42. Harry Potter: A Rankian Analysis of the Hero of Hogwarts, M. Katherine Grimes 43. ""Dark of the World, Shine on Us"": Ryan Coogler's Black Panther George Faithful PART 8. LITERATURE AND MYTH 44. Poetry and Myth 45. The Half-God of Rainfall: Classical and African Myth in an Epic Poem Inua Ellams 46. ""Yellow Woman"": Native-American Oral Myth in a Contemporary Context Leslie Marmon Silko 47. Narrative and Myth Glossary of Gods, Heroes, and Antiheroes Additional Works Cited Credits Index
Eva M. Thury is Associate Professor of English at Drexel University. Margaret K. Devinney is Associate Professor Emerita of German at Temple University.
Reviews for Introduction to Mythology: Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths
Introduction to Mythology is a first-class textbook. I have looked around at many other texts and there are very few with the breadth and depth of this book. * Marjorie Berman, Red Rocks Community College * This is an excellent guide to world mythology for both students and teachers. It is especially helpful to a teacher trying to cover a lot of global ground in a comprehensive mythology course. Few would have the expertise commanded by the two authors to cover everything from Native American through African through contemporary film myths. * Micaela Janan, Duke University * I've taught world mythology for twenty-five years, using a variety of texts over that time, and the Thury and Devinney textbook is by far the best and most valuable resource on the market. I have been using it since the first edition and haven't yet seen a superior work. * Marvin D. L. Lansverk, Montana State University * Introduction to Mythology covers mythology and also introduces the notion of myth in contemporary narrative form, all the while offering a coherent analytical group of ideas to explain why these themes we find in mythology are still in our narratives today. And it does so in one book. It is the only book I know of that takes such a comprehensive approach to the subject. * Bob G. Warren, Valencia College *
