Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth

by Alan Dundes

Alan Dundes defines myth as a sacred narrative that explains how the world and humanity came to be in their present form. This new volume brings together classics statements on the theory of myth by authors such as William Bascom, Jan de Vries, G. S. Kirk, James G. Frazer, Theodor H. Gaster, Mircea Eliade, Bronislaw Malinowski, C. G. Jung, and Claude Lévi-Strauss.

Rather than limiting this collection to classical Roman and Greek mythology, Dundes gives the book a worldwide scope. The twenty-two essays by leading experts on myth represent comparative functionalist, myth-ritual, Jungian, Freudian, and structuralist approaches to studying the genre.

Genres: Mythology, Religion, Nonfiction, Folklore, Anthropology, Philosophy, Theory

366 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Alan Dundes was a folklorist at the University of California, Berkeley. His work was said to have been central to establishing the study of folklore as an academic discipline. He wrote 12 books, both academic and popular, and edited or co-wrote two dozen more. One of his most notable articles was called "Seeing is Believing" in which he indicated that Americans value the sense of sight more than the other senses.

Reviews

[Jesse Whyte · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm really not crazy about most of these selections. Dundes needs to provide more commentary -- the selections only have the most rudimentary connections and he doesn't do enough to tie them together for me.

[Magen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book includes some classic and crucial essays on the study of mythology and sacred narrative, and is a book I come back to on a regular basis.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

resource book (required reading) for Mythology course

[Carl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've actually only read parts of this book, but strongly recommend it as a collection of major (even watershed) writings in the field of "sacred folklore", or mythology. For example, you can find one of Levi-Strauss' early applications of Structuralist interpretation to Myth, or Dundes' own Earth-Diver analysis, which is, of course, Freudian (though Dundes was also a major force in bringing Structuralist interpretation to mainstream folklore studies). I also recommend Dundes' collection "International folkloristics", though I haven't been able to find that book on Good Reads-- I'll have to add it at some point.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a review of this book please check out Sacred Narrative on my blog.

[Boweavil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alan Dundes is not only a great scholar but a wonderful editor. This collection of essays gives a wide range of scholarly approaches to the subject.