The Oldest Stories in the World

by Theodor Herzl Gaster

Myths and legends of 3500 years ago - recently deciphered and now presented for the first time is a collection for the general reader, with background comments and notes by the author.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Mythology, Ancient History

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 1952

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I studied at Union Theological Seminary, my girlfriend, Janny, studied at Barnard College/Columbia University. Between the two of us we had a number of prominent academic friends, colleagues and teachers, people such as Gustavo Gutiérrez, Ray Brown, Cornel West, Elaine Pagels, Dennis Shriver, Walter Wink, Jim Cone, Dorothy Solle, Cyril Richardson and Theodor Gaster.

Gaster was her teacher. I knew his daughter as she hung out at the seminary, but only encountered him by attending some of his lectures and reading some of his work. He was already pretty old, not the kind of fellow one would imagine becoming chummy with. Besides, he was marvelously erudite, his lectures spanning centuries and continents.

This book, a collection of some of the oldest writings discovered, reflects his erudition as each story is much amplified by his commentary. Indeed, the text as a whole includes an index of mythological motifs--quite the thing for students of an "archetypes of the collective unconscious" persuasion like I was at the time.

[Paul Groos · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like old stories, but these childish, almost silly retellings, did not do them justice. The language is now like a fairy tale for a five year old and then with almost baroque flourishes, with difficult words and traditional turns of phrase that make them very hard and annoying to read. The writer makes many questionable choices, translating some names (“sir Adroit-and-Cunning”), while leaving most others untranslated. Translating the name El as “God” (capitalised) is an even worse choice, turning a Canaanite deity from a polytheistic pantheon in an old-testament one.
The comments are even worse. Firmly rooted in outdated Frazerianism, all stories are about festivals (the myth and ritual school), year kings and divine weddings of the king and the land. The writer takes every superficial similarity between stories from all over the ancient world, traditional festivals and words as very meaningful,building grand theories about the stories, with precious little science, even reconstructing whole story endings on these very shaky ideas.
Why not tell us about the sources of the story, their transmission, publication? Why not retell them more faithfully and give explanation?
As it is, it is merely a nice collection of old stories, but that is this book’s only merit.

[Michele Giacomini · Rating 3 out of 5]

I commenti sono più interessanti delle storie in sé. È veramente affascinante vedere come culture così distanti nello spazio e nel tempo, dalle primissime civiltà della mezzaluna fertile ai primi popoli urbanizzati delle valli dei grandi fiumi cinesi, dall'antico Mesoamerica alla Scandinavia medioevale abbiano elaborato miti e leggende così simili tra loro.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure if it was the translation from the old texts, but most of the stories read quite flat or not very entertaining. It was easy to find themes that were used it our current literature. I never knew that a tooth ache could be referenced as a worm in the mouth causing the issue, which apparently has a saying in German?

[Talpa Betta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chi siamo, da dove veniamo... con una magnifica introduzione di Gaster su linguaggio e tradizione orale.

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Des contes très sympas, notamment celui des plumes d'emprunt, celui de l'arc céleste et celui de l'histoire de Baal.

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Древнейшие дошедшие до нас мифологичские тексты, включая Эпос о Гильгамеше. Переводы можно бы и обновить, так как качество понимания древних языков выросло.

[Clara Mazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo libro mi è piaciuto più per il lavoro che c'è stato dietro che per le storie stesse. Mi sono piaciuti di più i commenti alle storie che non i brani riportati. Sicuramente come dice Gaster, il fatto che questi racconti siano decisamente frammentari rispetto a quelli della mitologia greca o nordica, giusto per citarne un paio, fa sì che sia più difficile essere avvinti dalle vicende umane che si narrano - ed esse sono la base e del racconto e della sua importanza, dal momento che queste storie serviva per spiegare la vita, la morte, l'origine del tutto e la sua fine. Triste è il ruolo della donna, che passa o da puro oggetto (senza che mai ci si ponga la domanda di come si senta lei in merito a ciò nè alcuno pone la domanda alla donna di cui si dispone) a quella che aiuta l'eroe a compiere il salto finale, quello che lo porterà al successo - e anche in questo caso, nessuno però poi si ricorderà di lei. Un testo comunque importante per chi si occupa di miti e leggende e concludo concordando ancora una volta con l'autore che questi testi dovrebbero girare di più, essere meglio conosciuti perchè sono la base della nostra mitologia (e quindi pensiero) e della nostra filosofia.

[Fred Kohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a delightful book. Somewhat dated now, I'm sure, but since this is not primarily a scholarly book, it doesn't matter much.

[Valaida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting collection.