Myth Analyzed

Comparing and evaluating modern theories of myth, this book offers an overview of explanations of myth from the social sciences and the humanities. This ambitious collection of essays uses the viewpoints of a variety of disciplines: psychology, anthropology, sociology, politics, philosophy, religious studies, and literature. Each discipline advocates its own generalizations about the origin, the function, and the subject matter of myth. The issue is always not what makes any myth distinct but what makes all myths “myth.” The book is divided into five sections, covering topics such as myth and psychoanalysis, hero myths, myth and science, myth and politics, and myth and the physical world. Chapters engage with an array of theorists—among them Freud, Jung, Campbell, Rank, Winnicott, Tylor, Frazer, Malinowski, Lévy-Bruhl, Lévi-Strauss, Harrison, and Burkert. The book considers whether myth still plays a role in our lives. Theories show that myths arise anything but spontaneously. They are the result of a specific need, which varies from theory to theory.

This is a fascinating survey by a leading voice in the study of myth. It will be of much interest to scholars of myth and to many in sociology, anthropology, psychology, politics, and economics.

Robert A. Segal is the Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen, UK. He came to the United Kingdom from his native United States in 1994. He has taught at Lancaster University and since 2006 at Aberdeen. He teaches and writes on theories of myth, on theories of religion, and on Gnosticism. Among the books he has written or edited are The Poimandres as Myth (1986), Joseph Campbell (revised 1990), The Gnostic Jung (1992), Jung on Mythology (1998), The Myth and Ritual Theory (1998), Theorizing about Myth (1999), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion (second ed. 2020), and Myth: A Very Short Introduction (revised ed. 2015). He is editor of Routledge’s Theorists of Myth book series.