In Greek mythology the beautiful Narcissus glimpsed his own reflection in the waters of a spring and fell in love. But his was an impossible passion and, filled with despair, he pined away. Over the years the myth has inspired painters, writers, and film directors, as well as philosophers and psychoanalysts. The tragic story of Narcissus, in love with himself, and of Echo, the nymph in love with him, lies at the heart of this collection of essays exploring the origins of the myth and some of its many cultural manifestations and meanings relating to the self and the self's relationship to the other. Through their discussion of the myth and its ramifications, the contributors to this volume broaden our understanding of one of the fundamental myths of Western culture.

Lieve Spaas is Research Professor of Arts and Culture, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kingston University and has worked in social anthropology, French literature, and francophone film.

HINDUISM / MYTHOLOGYThe Hindu spiritual landscape is populated by multidimensional characters whose embodiment of both positive and negative aspects finds no parallel within the good versus evil mythology of the Western world. From the goddess Kali to the mysterious elephant-headed Ganesha, Indian Mythology explores the rich tapestry of these characters within ninety-nine classic myths, revealing the essence of the Hindu worldview and demonstrating how these ancient stories can inform a contemporary generation. Devdutt Pattanaik examines the meaning behind the metaphors of the classic myths in symbolic art and in a multifaceted tradition of ritual practices. Fifty artistic renderings of important mythological figures (from seventeenth-century temple carvings to twentieth-century calendar art) illustrate the complex polytheistic Hindu tradition and show how central these figures are to the Hindu conception of the world. Vishnu and Shiva, Gauri and Kali, Krishna and Rama embody the inherent tension between two poles--positive and negative, light and dark, preservative and destructive, world affirming and world rejecting. These opposing energies are valued equally in the cyclical Hindu worldview--a long view that recognizes their natural balance over time. The author also compares and contrasts Indian mythology with the stories of the Bible, ancient Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia, and Mesopotamia, offering Western readers a way to decode the symbolism of the rich Hindu tradition--an enduring mythic tradition that has empowered millions of human beings for centuries. A medical doctor by training, DEVDUTT PATTANAIK moved away from clinical practice to nurture his passion for mythology. His booksinclude The Goddess in India and introductions to Shiva, Vishnu, and Devi. He lives in Mumbai, India, where he works as a health communicator and writes and lectures on Hindu narratives, art, rituals, and philosophy.

Gwent teems with stories of magic and strange transformations above and below ground. To tell them afresh, storyteller Christine Watkins has searched out of darkness through a maze of mountain mist and salvaged a wisewoman's ironstone from the river. Read on to discover how and why the star-browed ox walked through a dream, what happened when Pegws found herself without Reverend Ridge in Carmel Chapel, and how the owl flew in low over the foxgloves, trying to sense from which direction change might come . . . Gwent Folk Tales brings to life long-told tales and weaves them beautifully with stories told to the author by family members. Wonderfully illustrated and engaging, there is a tale for everyone.

The oldest discovered statue, fashioned some fifteen to twenty thousand years ago, is of a bear. The lion was not always king. From antiquity to the Middle Ages, the bear s centrality in cults and mythologies left traces in European languages, literatures, and legends from the Slavic East to Celtic Britain. Historian Michel Pastoureau considers how this once venerated creature was deposed by the advent of Christianity and continued to sink lower in the symbolic bestiary before rising again in Pyrrhic triumph as a popular toy.

The early Church was threatened by pagan legends of the bear s power, among them a widespread belief that male bears were sexually attracted to women and would violate them, producing half-bear, half-human beings invincible warriors who founded royal lines. Marked for death by the clergy, bears were massacred. During the Renaissance, the demonic prestige bears had been assigned in biblical allegory was lost to the goat, ass, bat, and owl, who were the devil s new familiars, while the lion was crowned as the symbol of nobility. Once the undefeated champions of the Roman arena, prized in princely menageries, bears became entertainers in the marketplace, trained to perform humiliating tricks or muzzled and devoured by packs of dogs for the amusement of humans. By the early twentieth century, however, the bear would return from exile, making its way into the hearts of children everywhere as the teddy bear.

This compelling history reminds us that men and bears have always been inseparable, united by a kinship that gradually moved from nature to culture a bond that continues to this day.

Works on Jewish humor and Jewish jokes abound today, but what formed the basis for our contemporary notions of Jewish jokes? How and when did these perceptions develop? In this groundbreaking study and translation, noted humor and folklore scholar Elliott Oring introduces us to the joke collections of Lippmann Moses Buschenthal, an enlightened rabbi, and an unknown author writing as "Judas Ascher." Originally published in German in 1812 and 1810, these books include jokes and anecdotes that play on stereotypes. The jokes depict Jews dealing with Gentiles who are bent on their conversion, Jews encountering government officials and institutions, newly propertied Jews attempting to demonstrate their acquisition of artistic and philosophical knowledge, and Jews engaged in trade and moneylending-often with the aim to defraud. In these jokes we see the antecedents of modern Jewish humor, and in Buschenthal's brief introduction we find perhaps the earliest theory of the Jewish joke. Oring provides helpful annotations for the jokes and contextualizing essays that examine the current state of Jewish joke scholarship and the situation of the Jews in France and Germany leading up to the periods when the two collections were published. Intended to stimulate the search for even earlier examples, Oring challenges us to confront the Jewish joke from a genuine historical perspective.

2017 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Jewish Literature and Linguistics Honorable Mention, 2016 Baron Book Prize presented by AAJR A monster tour of the Golem narrative across various cultural and historical landscapes In the 1910s and 1920s, a "golem cult" swept across Europe and the U.S., later surfacing in Israel. Why did this story of a powerful clay monster molded and animated by a rabbi to protect his community become so popular and pervasive? The golem has appeared in a remarkable range of popular media: from the Yiddish theater to American comic books, from German silent film to Quentin Tarantino movies. This book showcases how the golem was remolded, throughout the war-torn twentieth century, as a muscular protector, injured combatant, and even murderous avenger. This evolution of the golem narrative is made comprehensible by, and also helps us to better understand, one of the defining aspects of the last one hundred years: mass warfare and its ancillary technologies. In the twentieth century the golem became a figure of war. It represented the chaos of warfare, the automation of war technologies, and the devastation wrought upon soldiers' bodies and psyches. Golem: Modern Wars and Their Monsters draws on some of the most popular and significant renditions of this story in order to unravel the paradoxical coincidence of wartime destruction and the fantasy of artificial creation. Due to its aggressive and rebellious sides, the golem became a means for reflection about how technological progress has altered human lives, as well as an avenue for experimentation with the media and art forms capable of expressing the monstrosity of war. New Books Network interview with Maya Barzilai on Golem

William Blake and the Myths of Britain is the first full-length study of Blake's use of British mythology and history. From Atlantis to the Deists of the Napoleonic Wars, this book addresses why the eighteenth century saw a revival of interest in the legends of the British Isles and how Blake applied these in his extraordinary prophetic histories of the giant Albion, revitalising myths of the Druids and Joseph of Arimathea bringing Christ to Albion.

Did you know that the father of psychoanalysis believed in ghosts, or that Frederick Engels attended seances? Ghosts: Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, History is the first collection of theoretical essays to evaluate these facts and consider the importance of the metaphor of haunting as it has appeared in literature, culture, and philosophy. Haunting is considered as both a literal and figurative term that encapsulates social anxieties and concerns. The collection includes discussions of nineteenth-century spiritualism, gothic and postcolonial ghost stories, and popular film, with essays on important theoretical writers including Freud, Derrida, Adorno, and Walter Benjamin.

In this magnificent reference book, the powerful and evocative mythologies of the East are revealed in all their glory. An instantly accessible A to Z structure, fully cross-referenced throughout, details the pantheon of gods of the East. The book splendidly recreates the rise of many cultures. Travel through exotic realms of high adventure, thrill at the exploits of warrior-gods, and become immersed in legend and folklore that bring to life the ancient stories that influence society in much of Asia today. Drawing together the legends of many incredibly diverse cultures, in a highly readable and accessible style, it is a classic reference on the subject.

Europe is a continent weighed down by the shadows of its past, its wars, the traditional enmities, the suspicions of neighbours fuelled by historical memories. This has immediate consequences for the understanding and representation of the past: journalists, politicians, historians often apply simplistic, pre-conceived patterns, i.e., myths, to current events, resulting in distorted and misleading analyses. This volume exposes the way some historical myths, such as Balance of Power, Rapallo, the Special Relationship, the Franco-German Couple, the Peril of Islam, are used to blur, not to clarify our understanding of international affairs, even to manipulate contemporary politics. Cyrill Buffet is Research Fellow at the Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin and Beatrice Heuser is Lecturer in War Studies at King's College, London.

Where does 'the self' in 'myself' begin and end? And what do ideas of 'spirit' tell us about the nature of human selfhood? To investigate these poorly understood matters, veteran anthropologist, neo-shaman and paranormal healer Roy Willis spent five months in a remote part of northern Zambia exploring human consciousness in a fascinating and sometimes terrifying series of adventures.
This absorbing book tells the story of Willis' and his three local colleagues' quest, as they participate in and film rituals of ecstatic union with nature spirits and talk in depth with experts in managing the awesome powers of a world beyond the ordinary. The narrative follows the research team's day-to-day involvement with rituals of spirit revelation, healing, and exorcism, their encounters with the evil powers of sorcery, and the sometimes troubled relations between team members.
The African healers in this book emerge both as exceptional individuals and as pioneering explorers of consciousness. Their experience is surprisingly congruent with our present sense of multiple and shifting selfhoods in the age of global electronic communication.

Where does 'the self' in 'myself' begin and end? And what do ideas of 'spirit' tell us about the nature of human selfhood? To investigate these poorly understood matters, veteran anthropologist, neo-shaman and paranormal healer Roy Willis spent five months in a remote part of northern Zambia exploring human consciousness in a fascinating and sometimes terrifying series of adventures. This absorbing book tells the story of Willis' and his three local colleagues' quest, as they participate in and film rituals of ecstatic union with nature spirits and talk in depth with experts in managing the awesome powers of a world beyond the ordinary. The narrative follows the research team's day-to-day involvement with rituals of spirit revelation, healing, and exorcism, their encounters with the evil powers of sorcery, and the sometimes troubled relations between team members. The African healers in this book emerge both as exceptional individuals and as pioneering explorers of consciousness. Their experience is surprisingly congruent with our present sense of multiple and shifting selfhoods in the age of global electronic communication.

Over 200 pages of legends, spells, facts and mermaid crafts! Do you need a little more magic in your life? What about shimmer? Look no further. Mermania is here! Packed full of over 200 enchanting pages of legends, spells, and facts, plus mermaid-inspired recipes and crafts, Mermania: The Little Book of Mermaids is the ultimate compendium of all things mer-people and their mystical aquatic lore. Did you know? This is the year of the mermaid - The mer-man film The Shape of Water won Best Picture Oscar and Netflix's live action The Little Mermaid streams this summer - with Disney and Universal hot on their heels * Mermaids had a heyday in Israel in 2009 and Zimbabwe in 2012, where they halted government works until beer and rituals were offered * Throughout history, everything from manatees and sea-cows to skate and seals have been mistaken for beautiful mermaids! * Mermaids are believed to cure asthma and earache, and to warn of danger Full of gorgeous full-colour illustrations and plenty of joyful whimsy throughout, Mermania includes everything you could ever want to know about these magical creatures, all in a gorgeous, covetable, iridescent package!

Ireland is an island nation, inextricably linked with and dependent upon the sea which surrounds us. From earliest times, ships from distant lands have brought goods, ideas, invaders, influencers. Our legends, and particularly the imramma or magical Otherworld voyage tales, show how deep our involvement with the ocean goes. Jo Kerrigan has discovered and retold tales from all around the Irish coast of storms, shipwrecks, pirate attacks and smuggling, as well as shipping stories, both of long distance trading and the little boats which took supplies from major harbours to smaller communities. The sea has an enduring fascination: let Jo's tales and Richard Mills' evocative photographs transport you to the coast to rediscover the tales gathered over the centuries by its communities.

The first new volume of Dr. von Franz's legendary Zurich lectures to be published since 1980. Title #76 in the series Studies in Jungian Psychology by Jungian Analysts. Edited transcript of lectures presented at the C. G. Jung Institute in Zurich. Features in-depth studies of six fairy tales -- one each from Denmark, Spain, China, France and Africa, and one from the Grimm Brother's collection -- with references to parallel themes in many others. Featuring the symbolic, non-linear approach von Franz is famous for, it offers unique insights into cross-cultural motifs, as well as being an invaluable resource for understanding dream images.

Robinson Crusoe explores Defoe's story, the legend it captured, the universal desire which underlies the myth and a range of modern re-writings which reveal a continued fascination with the problematic character of this narrative. Whether envisaged as an heroic rejection of the old world order, a piece of pre-colonialist propaganda or a tale raising archetypal problems of 'otherness' and 'inequality', the mythic value of Crusoe has become a pretext over many centuries for an examination of some of the fundamental problems of existence. This collection of essays examines, from a wide range of critical and philosophical perspectives, the cultural manifestations of Robinson Crusoe in different centuries, in different media, in different genres.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZNW) is one of the oldest and most highly regarded international scholarly book series in the field of New Testament studies. Since 1923 it has been a forum for seminal works focusing on Early Christianity and related fields. The series is grounded in a historical-critical approach and also explores new methodological approaches that advance our understanding of the New Testament and its world.

In this magnificent reference book, the powerful and evocative mythologies of the East are revealed in all their glory. An instantly accessible A to Z structure, fully cross-referenced throughout, details the pantheon of gods of the East. The book splendidly recreates the rise of many cultures. Travel through exotic realms of high adventure, thrill at the exploits of warrior-gods, and become immersed in legend and folklore that bring to life the ancient stories that influence society in much of Asia today. Drawing together the legends of many incredibly diverse cultures, in a highly readable and accessible style, it is a classic reference on the subject.

CONNECT TO THE MAGIC OF THE EARTH. This powerful and beautiful deck is a portal to inner healing, love and connection. Each colourful card is infused with crystals, plants, trees, flowers and the sacred language of light, as intuited by Katie-Jane Wright. Plants represent growth; flowers, discovery; crystals, depth. Together they hold the keys to help you dive deeper to past lives, unite with the elementals and the energy of inner earth. 50 stunning, unique cards connect you to the magic at your feet. A detailed guidebook explains the energy of each card and how to work with the deck, including a ceremony for awakening its magic, and information on details threaded through the cards: the hidden golden keys, the elementals and the seven colour rays. Try various recommended spreads to direct your intuition - the Chakra Spread, the Elements of Change Spread or the Earth Dragon Grounding Spread. Mother Earth is calling and it's time to listen. What messages does she have for you?

Murder, mutilation, cannibalism, infanticide, and incest: the darker side of classic fairy tales is the subject of this groundbreaking and intriguing study of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm's Nursery and Household Tales. This expanded edition includes a new preface and an appendix featuring translations of six tales with commentary by Maria Tatar. Throughout the book, Tatar draws on the disciplinary tools of psychoanalysis and folklore while also providing historical context to explore the harsher aspects of these stories, presenting new interpretations of tales that engage in a kind of cultural repetition compulsion. No other book so thoroughly challenges us to rethink the happily-ever-after of these classic stories.

As part of this multilayered conversation about stigma, this volume discusses the relationship between the stigmatized individual and our role as researchers. Here we address our own perspectives as researchers struggling with stigma issues and tellability, as well as scholarly reflexive concerns dealing with what can't be said when working with stigmatized groups or topics. The disciplinary focus of folklore positions us well to concentrate on the vernacular experience of the stigmatized, but it also propels us toward analysis of the performance of stigma, the process of stigmatization, and the political representation of stigmatized populations. These perspectives come to the fore in this book, as does the multilayered nature of stigma-its ability to reproduce, overlap, and spread, not just in terms of replication but also in terms of the ethnographer's ability to apprehend it and her ability to research and write about it.

"A candid, autobiographical record--part story, part essay, part poetry--Selu is also an example of an expanding list of recent and forthcoming books that herald a more interior way of viewing the Native American experience".--Publishers Weekly. Line illustrations.

Before the Civil War, a network of secret routes and safe houses crisscrossed the Midwest to help African Americans travel north to escape slavery. Although many slaves were able to escape to the safety of Canada, others met untimely deaths on the treacherous journey-and some of these unfortunates still linger, unable to rest in peace. In Hauntings of the Underground Railroad: Ghosts of the Midwest, Jane Simon Ammeson investigates unforgettable and chilling tales of these restless ghosts that still walk the night. This unique collection includes true and gruesome stories, like the story of a lost toddler who wanders the woods near the Story Inn, eternally searching for the mother torn from him by slave hunters, or the tale of the Hannah House, where an overturned oil lamp sparked a fire that trapped slaves hiding in the basement and burned them alive. Brave visitors who visit the house, which is now a bed and breakfast, claim they can still hear voices moaning and crying from the basement. Ammeson also includes incredible true stories of daring escapes and close calls on the Underground Railroad. A fascinating and spine-tingling glimpse into our past, Hauntings of the Underground Railroad will keep you up all night.

The brilliant kaleidoscope of everyday creativity in Israel is thrown into relief in this study, which teases out the abiding national tensions and contradictions at work in the expressive acts of ordinary people. Hagar Salamon examines creativity in Israel's public sphere through the lively discourse of bumper stickers, which have become a potent medium for identity and commentary on national and religious issues. Exploring the more private expressive sphere of women's embroidery, she profiles a group of Jerusalem women who meet regularly and create "folk embroidery." Salamon also considers the significance of folk expressions at the intersections of the public and private that rework change and embrace transformation. Far ranging and insightful, Israel in the Making captures the complex creative essence of a nation state and vividly demonstrates how its citizens go about defining themselves, others, and their country every day.