Myth

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Myth

• 6.11.2003

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Readings

• Lévi-Strauss, C. 1955. The Structural Study of
  Myth. In The Journal of American Folklore LXVII
  428-44 (Reprinted in Lessa and Vogt)
• Willis, R. 1967. The Head and the Loins
  Lévi-Strauss and Beyond. In Man II 519-534.
  (Reprinted in Lessa and Vogt)

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Discussion topics

• I Definitions of myth
• Mythos
• Different definitions
• II Folktale, myth and legend epic
• III Approaches to myth in general
• IV Four main anthropological approaches to myth
• Rationalist approach
• Functionalist approach
• Psychological approach
• Structuralist approach

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Mythos

• The term myth is ambiguous
• its semantic range inclusive rather than
  exclusive
• The ambiguity goes back to the Greek mythos
• Meant "utterance," "speech," or "story."
• Odyssey
• Odysseus' son Telemachus tells his mother
  Penelope to leave mythos ( "public debate and
  discussion") to men.
• Telemachus asks old Nestor to tell him whatever
  mythos ( "story," "tale") he may have heard of
  his missing father
• Iliad
• Phoenix distinguishes mythos ("word") from ergon
  ("deed"), while teaching Achilles to be both a
  speaker of words and a doer of deeds.
• Mythos can be both true or false story
• Electra
• Electra promises to tell her husband the whole
  truth (mython).
• Herodotus (Histories)
• recounts a story (mythos) about the hero Heracles
  which has "no basis in fact."

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Myth

• English usage
• expands the ambiguity of the Greek word
• traditional stories, including legends and
  folktales
• essential features of a culture
• beliefs and ideological assumptions that some
  believe
• "myths" of Aryan or white supremacy
• conspiracy myths surrounding the assassination of
  JFK
• fictional stories, characters, and objects
  which have no basis in fact
• the plot of almost any work of literary fiction

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Definitions I

• William Bascom The Forms of Folklore Prose
  Narratives
• The classic folkloristic definition of myth
• tales believed as true, usually sacred,
• set in the distant past or other worlds or parts
  of the world,
• and with extra-human, inhuman, or heroic
  characters.
• gt cosmogonic, or origin myths
• provide order or cosmology,
• based on Greek kosmos ( order)

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Definitions II

• 2) Walter Burkert
• Swiss scholar of Greek religion 
• "Myth is a traditional tale with secondary,
  partial reference to something of collective
  importance"
• gt Traditional tale
• myths from distant past
• gt reference to something of collective
  importance
• Collective nature

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Definitions III

• 3) Webster's dictionary
• Myth
• usually a traditional story of ostensible
  historical events that serves to unfold part of
  the world view of a people or explain a practice,
  belief, or natural phenomenon parable, allegory
  an ill-founded belief held uncritically
  especially by an interested group.
• Mythical
• based on or described in a myth, especially as
  contrasted with factual history imaginary
  fabricated, invented, or imagined in an arbitrary
  way or in defiance of facts synonym fictitious
• Myths
• metaphorically and symbolically true
• factually and literally false
• gt Not every "untrue", "made up", "false story
  or speculative fantasy is a myth

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Myth vs. Science?

• myth usually relegated to the area of lies
• ancient Greek creation stories
• the world was originally Chaos
• From Chaos suddenly Order appeared
• From the conflict between the two of them
• How different is this allegory from the Big Bang
  Theory?
• myth is like scientific theory, not knowledge

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Mythology

• Understood in two ways
• The study of myths of a particular people/culture
• A body of myths of particular people/culture

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Folktale, myth and legend

• William Bascom
• "The Forms of Folklore  Prose Narratives"
• Distinction between folktale, myth and legend.
• His differentiation depends on
• fictionality
• time period
• setting
• religious importance
• main characters

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Folktales

• "Folktales are prose narratives which are
  regarded as fiction."
• Folktales are
• non-sacred fictional stories
• that occur "once upon a time"
• and feature both human and non-human characters. 
  
• Examples
• Fairy tales
• Fables

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Legends

• "Legends are prose narratives which, like myths,
  are regarded as true by the narrator and his
  audience, but they are set in a period
  considerably less remote, when the world was much
  as it is today."
• Legends are considered
• true stories
• primarily about human heroes
• Humanized versions of gods
• Gods and other superhumans play role in the story
  
• that occurred in the recent past
• and may feature some religious references. 
• Example Odyssey.

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Myths

• "Myths are prose narratives which, in the society
  in which they are told, are considered to be
  truthful accounts of what happened in the remote
  past."
• Myths are considered
• true sacred stories
• that occurred in the remote past
• and have non-humans (gods, monsters) as the
  principal characters.
• Subjects of myth
• Creation of world and humans
• Cosmic catastrophes
• Origins of institutions
• Phenomena of birth and death
• Relations of the gods with each other and mortals

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Epic

• Epic
• a compilation of myths, legend, folk stories
  and oral histories.
• transition from oral to written culture.
• Goody (1978 1977)
• "the domestication of the savage mind"

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Kalevipoeg
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Kalevipoeg I

• Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (The Son of
  Kalev)
• Compiled by F.R. Kreutzwald in 1857-61
• Kreutzwald
• Germanized Estonian
• never identified himself with Estonian peasant
  culture
• never believed in an independent Estonian nation
• Kalevipoeg as an epic
• not their true collection
• Nearly half of them created by Kreutzwald himself
• various well-known stories omitted
• Invented content of epics
• Kalevala - Elias Lönnrot
• Lacplesis ("The Bear Slayer") - Andrejs Pumpurs
  (1888)

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Kalevipoeg II

• cultural and political implications of Kalevipoeg
  despite invented essence
• Especially during the Soviet period.
• power of epic
• affirms long history and distinct culture
• moral value of its mythical content
• anonymity and the co-authorship of the past
  generations
• Kalevipoeg
• a tragic hero
• cuts his legs with his own sword
• is in the end chained to the gate of hell
• Initially symbolised the serfdom of Estonian
  peasants under German landowners
• especially metaphorical in the Soviet context

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Kalevipoeg
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Kalevipoeg III

• Kalevipoeg
• myth of origin
• Millenarian vision of the future.
• The last lines of Kalevipoeg
• But one day an age will dawn
• when all spills, at both their ends,
• will burst forth into flame
• and this stark fire will sever
• the vise of stone from Kalevipoeg's hand.
• Then the son of Kalev will come home
• to bring his children happiness
• and build Estonia's life anew.
• re-establishment of an independent Estonian
  nation-state.

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Approaches to myth Ancient Greece

• Critical study of myths dates back to the ancient
  Greeks
• Xenophanes of Colophon (6th c. BC)
• cast doubt upon the anthropomorphism of the Greek
  gods.
• Ethiopian gods look like Ethiopians
• Scythian gods like Scythians
• gtif horses had gods they would look like horses
• Euhemerus (3rd c. BC)
• Greek gods were once great kings who were
  worshiped as deities after their deaths.
• This approach called euhemerism
• Replaced literal interpretation of myths with an
  allegorical approach

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Approaches to myth Renaissance

• Italy
• Scholars, writers and artists used myths to
• celebrate the continuity of culture from the
  mythic past of the Greeks and Romans to the
  Christian present.
• Ancient myths treated as allegories
• complemented and reinforced the Christian
  worldview
• Eg.hero's victory over the Gorgon Medusa
• The symbolic victory of virtue over vice
  Christ's conquest of sin and his ascension into
  heaven

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Approaches to myth Enlightenment

• scholars began to treat myths and legends more
  historically and scientifically.
• Sir William Jones
• discovery of the Indo-European language family
  (1786)
• Recognition of the linguistic ties binding
  Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin
• gt comparative studies of Indo-European myths
• linguistic and functional similarities among
  various deities
• gt comparative mythology

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Approaches to myth 19th century

• myths from other cultural contexts partially
  included in analysis
• Common themes from around the world studies
• Eg. flood myths and tales of worldwide cataclysm
• from Polynesia and South America
• provided perspective on ancient Mediterranean
  myths about floods
• Noah and the Ark in the biblical book of Genesis
• the myth of Deucalion and Pyrrha in Ovid's
  Metamorphoses
• the story of Utnapishtim in the Babylonian Epic
  of Gilgamesh,
• Acknowledgement of common themes led to two
  approaches
• 1) search for the original story or Ur-Myth from
  which all variants sprang
• Spread via geographic dissemination of myths
• 2) Thematic similarities due to common experience
  of humankind

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Approaches to myth 20th century

• Psychological and anthropological approaches
  proliferated
• Analysis of classical mythology had been dominant
• Also in early psychological approaches
• Eg. Freud and the Greek myth of Oedipus
• Thanks to anthropologists
• mythological references widened.
• Sir James George Frazers Golden Bough (1898)
• Cambridge School
• Jane Harrison, A. B. Cook, Francis Cornford, and
  Gilbert Murray

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Four approaches to myth in anthropology

• rationalist approach
• functionalist approach
• psychoanalytical approach
• structuralist approach

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Rationalist approach

• Myth
• uses the supernatural to interpret and explain
  natural events and forces
• Creation myths the best example
• how the universe was created
• how man was created
• All ancient civilizations
• had their creation myths
• The stories in the Old Testament Book of Genesis
• a reflection of older myths of ancient Egypt and
  Mesopotamia from at least 3000 BC.
• the further back we go - the more dominant the
  creation myth becomes
• Eg. Max Müller
• All myths originated in solar symbols
• Debate with Andrew Lang

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Functionalist/sociological approach I

• Myths
• as a type of social control.
• teach morality and social behavior
• what types of things should and shouldnt be done
• the consequences for those wrong doings.
• serve the function of insuring stability in a
  society
• As a charter validating present social
  relations (Malinowski)

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Functionalist/sociological approach II

• Malinowski
• Myth in Primitive Psychology (1926)
• Sociological interpretation of Trobriand myths
• myth and social reality were functionally
  interrelated.
• Myth confirms, supports and maintains the social
  state of affairs.
• E.g. Trobriand origin myths
• explain and validate incest taboos
• legitimate food taboos
• Justify ranks in society
• Paul Radin
• Myths serve to explain and encourage worldview
  and good action within society

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Psychoanalytical approach

• Myth
• As an expressive phenomenon
• Its primary referents are
• the individual
• The conflict between societal constraints and
  biological nature
• Symbolic representations of these conflicts are
  universal
• Jung
• "primordial images" or archetypes.
• provide the primordial elements in the myths and
  narrative constructions of widely different
  cultures.
• Eliade
• exemplary models or paradigms.
• But denies psychological explanation of myths

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Psychoanalytical approach Dundes I

• Earth-diver Creation of the Mythopoeic Male
  (1962)
• The creation of earth from dirt or mud
• widely spread theme in myths, especially among
  North American Indians
• Earth-diver myth
• waters cover earth
• various animals dive into a flood of waters
• to bring out bits of sand and mud from which to
  form earth
• last animal succeeds (various species)
• mud put on surface of water
• magically expands to become land

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Psychoanalytical approach Dundes II

• relies on orthodox Freudian theory
• relates the theme to
• the (theoretically) universal male pregnancy envy
• desire to give anal birth
• Comparative data from various parts of the world

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Psychoanalytical approach Dundes III

• clinical data of male fantasies
• Freud, Jung, Lombroso, etc
• Genesis
• Womans creative role denied
• Noah-story as a gestation myth
• a man builds a womb-ark
• Hinduism
• Ganesh formed from the excrement of his mother
• Chukchee creation myth
• Raven defecates and creates the world
• Nahuatl
• gold as the excrement of gods
• teocuitlatl gold
• teotl god
• cuitlatl excrement

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Structuralist approach

• The structuralists
• discarded the overt funtionalism
• maintained that myth provides the conceptual
  rather than normative supports of a social world.
  
• emphasis on binary opposites
• Synchronic rather than diachronic approach

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Levi-Strauss (b. 1908)
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Structuralist approach - Levi-Strauss I

• For LS - anthropology
• the study of collective representations
  thought-of orders of myth and religion.
• fundamentally the study of thought.
• structuralism
• a scientific method of analysis
• Explicitly follows the structural analysis
  pioneered by Ferdinand de Saussure
• Applies the theoretical paradigm of structural
  linguistics on
• myth
• totemism
• religion in general
• modern political ideology

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Structuralist approach - Levi-Strauss II

• The Savage Mind (1962)
• Mythologiques (1968, 1969, 1971, 1973)
• study of the myths of American Indians
• Two seminal essays
• The Structural Study of Myth (1955)
• The Story of Asdiwal (1961)
• Anti-charterist approach
• Myths just a partial window on ethnographic
  reality
• Myths have an invariant structure
• not evident at the empirical level
• Meaning of myths
• not in their manifest content
• but rather in their underlying structure
• elements of the myth mythemes
• like the elements of language
• meaningless if taken in isolation
• meaningful only in relation to other elements

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Structuralist approach - Levi-Strauss III

• Myth as a
• cultural code
• logical model
• Serves to
• order human experience
• mediate the conflicting or dualistic elements of
  society and life

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Structuralist approach - Levi-Strauss IV

• The Structural Study of Myth (1955)
• against sociological and psychological
  explanations
• the example of evil grandmothers
• structural approach
• dividing a myth into shortest possible
  sentences
• writing those on cards
• arranging cards in columns
• Reading vs understanding the myth
• reading rows
• understanding columns
• 1 2 4 7 8
• 2 3 4 6 8
• 1 4 5 7 8
• 2 5 7
• 3 4 5
• 6 8

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Structuralist approach - Levi-Strauss V

• Criticism
• 1) structuralism
• essentially synchronic and ahistorical
• 2) The binary oppositions (eg nature vs culture)
• may involve the imposition of Western dualistic
  concepts on the thought of preliterate people.
• 3) human praxis and problem of meaning
• totally excluded