Thematic Guide to World Mythology

(Hardback)

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Description

All around the world, myths address questions that humans have always posed about their origins, their environments, their ultimate destinies, and the meanings of their lives. This book examines 30 common motifs that thread their way through mythological tales across history and around the globe. The themes are presented in alphabetical order, moving from The Afterlife and Animals in Myth to The Underworld, World Tree, and Ymir Motif. Each thematic section defines and discusses a single recognizable motif, compares a number of different mythological traditions, and traces the repeated occurrences of one of these patterns through several different categories of narratives. The discussion of The Afterlife, for example, examines the theme's earliest known occurrences in ancient Mesopotamia and compares them with those in Greek, Aztec, Norse, and other ancient cultures, as well as with contemporary views from Innuit and Polynesian cultures. A glossary provides concise definitions of recurring terms. A list of suggested readings on these topics will further aid students who desire to deepen their knowledge of world mythology.

Reviews

"Stookey provides a well-organized guide to the overlapping and common themes found in world mythology. Arranged by the common motifs found in myths worldwide, it serves as a good introduction to comparative mythology....[t]his is a well-written, clearly organized set of introductory chapters on the commonalities found in many myths. Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates."-Choice
[A]chieves its goal of providing an overview of the themes of world mythology....[r]ecommeded to school and public libraries.-Library Journal
Stookey provides a well-organized guide to the overlapping and common themes found in world mythology. Arranged by the common motifs found in myths worldwide, it serves as a good introduction to comparative mythology....[t]his is a well-written, clearly organized set of introductory chapters on the commonalities found in many myths. Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates.-Choice
This sampling of world myths, written is a simple, straightforward prose, might serve well as a beginner's guide and overview.-Library Media Collection
"Achieves its goal of providing an overview of the themes of world mythology....recommeded to school and public libraries."-Library Journal
"[A]chieves its goal of providing an overview of the themes of world mythology....[r]ecommeded to school and public libraries."-Library Journal
"This sampling of world myths, written is a simple, straightforward prose, might serve well as a beginner's guide and overview."-Library Media Collection

Author Bio

LORENA STOOKEY is Assistant Professor in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she teaches course in mythology, poetry, and literature. She is the author of Louise Erdrich: A Critical Companion (Greenwood 1999).