Despite protestations to the contrary, myth criticism in literature is not dead: witness the well over 1000 illuminating sources published between 1970 and 1990 selected from thousands more and provided with succinct informative annotations. The modern study of the relation between myths and literature began in the late 19th century with publication of James G. Frazer's The Golden Bough and reached a high water mark with Northrop Frye's archetypal criticism beginning in the late 1950s. The "end of modernism" proclaimed in the late 1960s seemed also to toll the death knell for myth criticism, which was denigrated by some "new critics" of the "post-modernist" era. Instead, however, the authors here have found a wealth of recent materials, some proceeding from traditional psychological or anthropological stances and others taking new directions: studying relationships between myth and language and myth and history, viewing myth as part of the complex fabric of fiction rather than its core, and accommodating feminist theory, among other approaches. The variety of narratives accorded the status of myth has also prompted inquiries on mythopoesis, or the literary creation of myth. The opening chapter surveys work done on the mythic or archetypal approach in general and on such mythic figures in literature as Orpheus, Oedipus, Cain, and Faust; the second chapter covers works on myth in classical literature; and the following five chapters correspond to major periods in British and American literature. Included are general studies and studies of particular authors, notably among them such giants of the past as Shakespeare, Milton, Melville, Joyce, and Faulkner, but also including suchcontemporary writers as Toni Morrison and John Updike. A well-constructed subject index provides access throughout to mythical figures and literary figures as well as major theories and theorists, topics, and themes; and an author index accesses the critical studies.

Meet mythology's fifty fiercest females in this modern retelling of the world's greatest legends. From feminist fairies to bloodsucking temptresses, half-human harpies and protective Vodou goddesses, these are women who go beyond long-haired, smiling stereotypes. Their stories are so powerful, so entrancing, that they have survived for millennia. Lovingly retold and updated, Kate Hodges places each heroine, rebel and provocateur fimly at the centre of their own narrative. Players include: Bewitching, banished Circe, an introvert famed and feared for her transfigurative powers. The righteous Furies, defiantly unrepentant about their dedication to justice. Fun-loving Ame-no-Uzume who makes quarrelling friends laugh and terrifies monsters by flashing at them. The fateful Morai sisters who spin a complex web of birth, life and death. Find your tribe, fire your imagination and be empowered by this essential anthology of notorious, demonised and overlooked women.

In recent years, there has been a noticeable and enthusiastic increase of interest in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines in Japan. The legends of these temples and shrines are recorded in many historical manuscripts and these genealogies have such great significance that some of them have been registered as national treasures of Japan. They are indispensable to elucidate the history of these temples and shrines, in addition to the formation process of the ancient Japanese nation. This book provides a comprehensive examination of the genealogies and legends of ancient Japanese clans. It advances the study of ancient Japanese history by utilizing new analytical perspective from not only the well-known historical manuscripts relied upon by previous researchers, but also valuable genealogies and legends that previous researchers largely neglected.

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aPersuasively argued...A fascinating study that makes a real contribution to discussions of health, wellness and faith in America.a
--"Publishers Weekly"

"An exploration of the history and practices of black healers and healing illuminating the vital cultural, intellectual, and spiritual expression of a people. This fine multidisciplinary work draws deeply and thoughtfully from the experiences and words of its subjects, offering alternative visions of human creativity, resistance, and community."
--Yvonne Chireau, author of "Black Magic: Religion and the African-American Conjuring Tradition"

Cure a nosebleed by holding a silver quarter on the back of the neck. Treat an earache with sweet oil drops. Wear plant roots to keep from catching colds. Within many African American families, these kinds of practices continue today, woven into the fabric of black culture, often communicated through women. Such folk practices shape the concepts about healing that are diffused throughout African American communities and are expressed in myriad ways, from faith healing to making a mojo.

Stephanie Y. Mitchem presents a fascinating study of African American healing. She sheds light on a variety of folk practices and traces their development from the time of slavery through the Great Migrations. She explores how they have continued into the present and their relationship with alternative medicines. Through conversations with black Americans, she demonstrates how herbs, charms, and rituals continue folk healing performances. Mitchem shows that these practices are not simply about healing; they are linked to expressions of faith, delineating aspects of a holistic epistemology and pointing to disjunctures between African American views of wellness and illness and those of the culture of institutional medicine.

Werewolf Histories is the first academic book in English to address European werewolf history and folklore from antiquity to the twentieth century. It covers the most important werewolf territories, ranging from Scandinavia to Germany, France and Italy, and from Croatia to Estonia.

This book was first published in 2004. Plato, Aristophanes and the creators of the 'Orphic' gold tablets employ the traditional tale of a journey to the realm of the dead to redefine, within the mythic narrative, the boundaries of their societies. Rather than being the relics of a faded ritual tradition or the products of Orphic influence, these myths can only reveal their meanings through a close analysis of the specific ways in which each author makes use of the tradition. For these authors, myth is an agonistic discourse, neither a kind of sacred dogma nor a mere literary diversion, but rather a flexible tool that serves the wide variety of uses to which it is put. The traditional tale of the journey to the Underworld in Greek mythology is neither simple nor single, but each telling reveals a perspective on the cosmos, a reflection of the order of this world through the image of the other.

The supernatural lore of Ancient Greece and Rome is vividly brought to life in these pages.The literature of Classical antiquity bristles with horrible witches, mysterious wizards, terrifying ghosts, magic books, curses, voodoo-dolls, even werewolves, vampires and Frankenstein's monsters. Many of these tales have directly shaped our own culture's lore of magic and ghosts, and consequently, these tales speak to us today with great immediacy.This book covers a period of over a thousand years that witnessed some massive historical and cultural changes, including the advent of Christianity. Ancient culture was generally conservative and this is particularly true of its notions of ghosts and witches, which are strongly bound up with traditional tales and folklore of various kinds. Such tales preserve and conserve ideas about ghosts and witchcraft, and they survive to achieve this effect precisely because they are wonderfully engaging.

In the lost mountains of Haiti, strange beings with powerful magic powers, periodically go down to the town to capture the most bright people in order to transmit them secrets of ancient African mages for the concretization of a sublime mission.

Fast-paced and exciting, beautifully illustrated and full of unicorn magic, children will love Unicorn Seekers a thrilling new series from BBC disability ambassador, Cerrie Burnell. Growing up in a bustling city, Elodie Lightfoot thinks she's seen it all. Except, she's never seen a unicorn before... until now. And not just that - she can feel the unicorn's magic too - it's as if a special bond exists between them. But while these exciting powers bring adventure, they also bring danger as Elodie realises she's prepared to protect her unicorn at all costs... Striking cover with shiny silver sparkles makes this the perfect gift A beautifully told adventure story with magic, excitement and, of course, unicorns! This captivating new book from TV personality and disability campaigner Cerrie Burnell will leave children completely enchanted Gorgeous black and white illustrations throughout

Folklore is the cultural expression of a people, and it makes up key elements of the stories they tell. Using easily accessible language, this book defines, separates, and gracefully weaves together story and folklore. From the ancient world of traveling bards in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America, to the contemporary world of storytelling festivals, fan fiction, and digital story conferences, this reference unravels confusion between concepts of folklore and story, and demonstrates how they are linked. Included are numerous examples and texts, a review of critical approaches, and a discussion of story in literature and popular culture. Story informs folklore, and folklore informs story. The complex relationship between them is compounded by many definitions and points of view generated by scholars over time. Humans construct their sense of the world through story, vernacular transmission, and folklore. Folklore is the cultural expression of people, and it makes up the key elements of the stories they tell. Written for high school students and general readers, this reference conveniently overviews story as a folklore genre.

The Book of Changes, or I-Ching, is the primary reference work for advanced Armabella. While any version of the Book of Changes can be used, the commentaries in most are, at best, unhelpful and, at worst, misleading for the purposes of Armabella practice since they lean towards divination and philosophy, rather than the heavy focus on direct, real-time practical application that lies at the heart of Armabella. This is Armabella's own commentary-free version of the book, and has significantly better and more extensive cross referencing, as well as using Armabella's standard naming conventions for the Trigrams and Hexagrams, the unique SCRE classification system, and providing easy-access references for 21s in situ for all entries. This book is not suitable for beginners.

This study on Kapsiki-Higi tales compares two corpuses of stories collected over two generations. In this oral setting, folktales appear much more dynamic than usually assumed, depending on genre, performance and the memory characteristics of the tales themselves. In northeastern Nigeria the author collected these tales twice with a time gap of two generations, in order to assess the dynamics of this oral transmission. The comparison between the two corpuses shows that folktales are a much more dynamic cultural system than is usually thought. These dynamics affect some types of tales more than others, reflect social change and intergroup contact, but also depend on characteristics of the tales themselves. Cognitive approaches of memory shed light on these varieties of transmission, as do performance aspects in tale telling, in particular ideophones.

There are strange monsters in Indiana. Some are grudgingly called "hypothetical" species by the state's Department of Natural Resources; others are merely exotic, overlooked, or "hidden" animals, that people think are extinct or just not possible in the Hoosier State. Read about: *Exotic reptiles and fish overlooked on official rosters, *"Extinct" cougars that refuse to disappear, *Alien big cats (including lions and black panthers), *Lake and swamp monsters, *Freshwater cephalopods, *Phantom kangaroos and "Devil Monkeys," *Bigfoot, mer people, lizard men, giant birds, and *A 40-foot dragon. Explore the Indiana monsters that date from the early nineteenth century to modern times. Indiana's creatures will fascinate you as much as the intrepid hunters who stalk them.