Myth: A Very Short Introduction

In the main, I have found the Oxford short introductions very helpful. However, the authors in this series do not always manage to give the reader a good sense of how discussed theories are to be applied. This is manifestly not the problem with Robert Segal's Myth: A Very Short Introduction. In fact, I would say that this little volume is the very epitome that the authors of the upcoming very short introductions should emulate. The special value of Segal's book is not only that he brings vast erudition to the composition of this work but that he is able to show it with clarity and brevity. One of the features of the book that makes it a must purchase for those interested in myth is the breadth of the book. In one-hundred-sixty-three pages, Segal manages to cover all of the major schools of theories of myth and with a minimum of abstraction. But what is especially valuable about this survey is that he has applied the various theories discussed (literary, psychological, structuralist, and others) to a single constellation of myths, the Adonis cycle. One often finds applications of different theories to different myths--the equivalent of comparing nuts and berries to apples and oranges. One often wonders how they would stack up when competing to explain the same myth. Here, Segal has done much of that difficult work for the reader. This brilliant move is the rhetorical equivalent of the repetition of different explanations for the same phenomena. This demonstration, alone, is worth the price of the book. Although accessible to a general audience, I would especially recommend this book for undergraduate students in myth studies courses, for graduate students preparing for their comprehensive examinations, and for academics wishing to brush-up on different approaches to myth. Myth: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)Myths to Live ByI give it five stars.

This book was originally just for school, but I ended up keeping it because it was rather interesting.

Robert A Segal is Professor of Theories of Religion at the University of Lancaster, England, my Alma Mater, which has long had a very good reputation for Religious Studies. So it is not surprising that he is regarded as a foremost authority in his field, that of the history of myth scholarship. It is important to know that that is what this book is about -- it is not a book of myth, or even about myth, but a book about theories of myth. Put another way, it is a book not of myth scholarship, but about myth scholarship. That is an unusual subject, being two steps removed from its principal data, rather like a history of historiography. However, if the subject interests you, this is the book for you. Segal examines approaches to myth in eight different contexts or disciplines: Science, philosophy, religion, ritual, literature, psychology, structuralism, and sociology. He uses the myth of Adonis, which he relates at the beginning of the book, as a subject for each theory he examines. This is both a strength and a weakness. The good thing is that it makes comparisons between theories more meaningful, the bad thing is that some theories just aren't appropriate to that particular myth. For the latter, Segal is reduced to saying something like, "It is not clear how this could be applied to Adonis". Perhaps not, but that does not mean the theory has no value. A more flexible approach, with two or three example myths, might have been better. Admittedly, he does also reference the Oedipus myth, where the theory in question explicitly concerns that. In each of the eight sections, Segal lists some principal theorists, summarizes their theories in that particular area, and tests them against the Adonis myth. Naturally, several names recur in several different sections. After a half dozen or so thinkers, it gets a little bewildering, and you are not always going to remember who thought what. This would serve as an excellent reference work and springboard for further reading, but by itself is rather like a series of appetizers with no main course. The book rather fizzles out at the very end. There is a short section at the end of the Myth and Society chapter which gives Segal's own interpretation of the Adonis myth, followed by a Conclusion on the future study of myth. None of this follows naturally from the rest of the book, and comes across as a determined attempt by the author, having spent so much time discussing other people's ideas, to get in some of his own. The Conclusion in particular, which likens movie stars to gods, is unconvincing, as it does not take into account how fans can turn on their idols, and relish having them torn to shreds in the gossip columns. Despite those objections, there is a great weight of scholarship in this book, and if you are pursuing a thorough understanding of myth - its functions, origins and so on - then you will find it invaluable and probably indispensible.