Twentieth Century Mythologies: Dumaezil, Laevi-Strauss, Eliade - Hardcover

Dubuisson, Daniel; Cunningham, Martha

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1845530209 ISBN 13: 9781845530204

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

Myths have intrigued scholars throughout history. 'Twentieth Century Mythologies' traces the study of myth over the last century, presenting the key theories of mythology and critiquing traditional definitions of myth. The volume presents the work of influential scholars in mythology: the noted Indo-Europeanist Georges Dumezil, the structuralist anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, and the historian of religions Mircea Eliade. 'Twentieth Century Mythologies' is an indispensable resource for scholars of religion and myth and for all those interested in the history of ideas.

About this title

Review:

'Important reading for those engaged in structuralist studies in religion and mythology.' --Temenos

Synopsis:

Because its topic is not so much the study of myth as much as it is theories of myth, this book aims at a rather precise goal: to make a contribution to writing a history of ideas in the twentieth century. Twentieth Century Mythologies does this by offering a comparative epistemology to examine the diverse scholarly definitions of, and hypotheses concerning, myth and myths--assembling both theorists and theories into a coherent picture in which the specific place, contributions, as well as shortcomings, of each becomes apparent. While the book examines in detail the influential work of three great scholars: the noted Indo-Europeanist Georges Dumezil, the structuralist anthropologist Claude Levis-Strauss, and the historian of religions Mircea Eliade. Taken together, the scholarly productions of these authors comprise the twentieth-century's body of work, or discourse, on myth(s). First published in France in 1993, and since then translated into Italian (1995) and Romanian (2003), Twentieth Century Mythologies provides an indispensable resource not only for scholars of religion and myth, but also for those interested in both the history and the impact of ideas in the last century.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1845530209
• ISBN 13: 9781845530204
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336