Myth Theories
Already in the 19th century there was a tendency to produce large-scale myth theories, such as those of Max Müller with emphasis on solar myths (shared with Adalbert Kuhn the philologist), Andrew Lang, Wilhelm Mannhardt, and James Frazer. The work of Müller and Frazer, in particular, was seen by others as a contribution to comparative religion, and a myth theory was an implicit commentary on Christianity. This aspect of mythography was certainly controversial, and those who worked in the area tended to make the inclusion of Christian sacred narratives within the theory only tacitly. The scope of theories also expanded to cover myth from all parts of the world, where the initial field was mainly classical mythology and myths from areas adjacent to the Roman Empire. Mythography reached both into the past, for example with the background of all Indo-European languages, and wherever in the contemporary world anthropologists were working. Cyril Charles Martin, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 on paganism, summed up theories as follows:
| “ | Historians of religion usually assume that religions developed upwards from some common germ which they call Totemism, Animism, Solar or Astral Myth, Nature Worship in general or Agrarian in particular, or some other name implying a systematic interpretation of the facts. | ” |
Scholars such as Carl Jung, Georges Dumezil, James Hillman and Claude Lévi-Strauss continued this tradition in the 20th century. The direction of comparative religion is represented by Mircea Eliade, and also to some extent by the literary critic René Girard. The French sociological school has argued in terms of myths having social function.
There were numerous other mythographic 'schools' in the first half of the 20th century. Ernst Cassirer's approach was through philosophy, specifically the so-called Marburg School of Kantian thought; it had a direct influence on Susanne Langer, and has been traced as an influence on Mikhail Bakhtin.
Mythography is the study of the study of myths (the study of myths itself being mythology), as well. In examining how mythology has been studied, one can see the differences and similarities readily, as evidenced by William Doty's Mythography: The Study of Myths and Rituals.
Read more about this topic: Mythographers
Famous quotes containing the words myth and/or theories:
“The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal. It expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values.... Because myth anchors the present in the past it is a sociological charter for a future society which is an exact replica of the present one.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)
“In the course of a life devoted less to living than to reading, I have verified many times that literary intentions and theories are nothing more than stimuli and that the final work usually ignores or even contradicts them.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)