Mythmakers

by Mary Barnard

Book by Barnard, Mary

Genres: Mythology

Paperback

Published November 1, 1979

About the author

Mary Barnard was a prominent American poet, translator, and biographer with many books in her repertoire. She studied Greek at Reed College and began to translate at Ezra Pound's suggestion in the 1930s. Her Assault on Mount Helicon: A Literary Memoir was published by the University of California Press in 1984. Two years later she received the Western States Book Award for her book-length poem, Time and the White Tigress. She also published prose fiction and a volume of essays on mythology as well as the original lyrics gathered in Collected Poems.

Reviews

[Liam Malone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary really makes us second guess some of our inherited beliefs about the origins of myths. When she points out that a cave painting would be seen by a child as humorous, as a man dressed up like an animal. Why then do adults immediately declare the painting a religious symbol? She also emphasizes that alcohol was discovered accidentally, but mankind liked it and replicated the process and invented fermentation. And, then ascribed being drunk and reveling to the gods.