The Power Of Myth Or On The Meanders Of Historical Writing

This monograph presents a critical analysis of the body of historical writing on the history of the Jewish population in Poznania in the era of the Prussian rule (1772-1918 ), including the identification and verification of the attendant myths and stereotypes. The interest in the Polish edition of this book was considerable. Similarly noticeable was the academic response to the title, despite its ostensibly local subject matter. While this study was also noticed abroad, the language barrier has severely impeded its impact. This prompted the author to work towards the English edition of this book, hoping it would find its way into global academic circulation. Some changes and additions were made in the English version. It includes an updated survey of scholarship on this subject of the past twenty years, a response to reviews engaging with the Polish edition, and some general reflections on the evolution of historiography in the recent years.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An extraordinary book that reveals how the themes and symbols of ancient narratives continue to bring meaning to birth, death, love, and war. The Power of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his work. A preeminent scholar, writer, and teacher, he has had a profound influence on millions of people—including Star Wars creator George Lucas. To Campbell, mythology was the “song of the universe, the music of the spheres.” With Bill Moyers, one of America’s most prominent journalists, as his thoughtful and engaging interviewer, The Power of Myth touches on subjects from modern marriage to virgin births, from Jesus to John Lennon, offering a brilliant combination of intelligence and wit. From stories of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome to traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, a broad array of themes are considered that together identify the universality of human experience across time and culture. An impeccable match of interviewer and subject, a timeless distillation of Campbell’s work, The Power of Myth continues to exert a profound influence on our culture.

This collection, first published in 1992, offers critical-interpretive essays on various aspects of the work of Joseph Campbell (1904-1987), one of a very few international experts on myth. Joseph Campbell examines myths and mythologies from a comparative point of view, and he stresses those similarities among myths the world over as they suggest an existing, transcendent unity of all humankind. His interpretations foster an openness, even a generous appreciation of, all myths; and he attempts to generate a broad, sympathetic understanding of the role of these ‘stories’ in human history, in our present-day lives, and in the possibilities of our future.

Contributed articles on 20th century English fiction.

What are myths? Are there 'correct' and 'incorrect' versions? And where do they come from? These and many other related questions are addressed in this book, a collection of critical studies of the contents of some of the most famous mythographic works from ancient, classical, medieval, and modern times, and of the methods, motivations, and ideological implications underlying these literary records of myth.

As a Politicized Novelist Sir Salman Rushdie is perhaps the most prominent living writer. He emerged over the years as one of the most controversial figures of our times who excites contrary feelings. In his comprehensive and lucid critical study the writer examines the intellectual, bio graphical, Historical works of Rushdie. The book is compiled works of almost all the arena of Historical, National and self deals with the problem of immigration, racial discrimination, cultural hybridity. He also deals with many allegories , political, mythological and historical allegories. He brilliantly fused the idea of post colonialism and post modernism. His novels has special flavor of post modern device like Magic Realism the award of Booker prize to Midnight’s children in 1981 led Rushdie’s near contemporary Kazuo ishiguru later a winner of Booker prize himself. To conclude that the publication of this novel represented a ‘symbolic moment’, a ‘milestone’ for English language authors living in Britain whose origins were not British.’

A revealing look at how the Orpheus myth helped Renaissance writers and thinkers understand the force of eloquence In ancient Greek mythology, the lyrical songs of Orpheus charmed the gods, and compelled animals, rocks, and trees to obey his commands. This mythic power inspired Renaissance philosophers and poets as they attempted to discover the hidden powers of verbal eloquence. They wanted to know: How do words produce action? In The Trials of Orpheus, Jenny Mann examines the key role the Orpheus story played in helping early modern writers and thinkers understand the mechanisms of rhetorical force. Mann demonstrates that the forms and figures of ancient poetry indelibly shaped the principles of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century scientific knowledge. Mann explores how Ovid’s version of the Orpheus myth gave English poets and natural philosophers the lexicon with which to explain language’s ability to move individuals without physical contact. These writers and thinkers came to see eloquence as an aesthetic force capable of binding, drawing, softening, and scattering audiences. Bringing together a range of examples from drama, poetry, and philosophy by Bacon, Lodge, Marlowe, Montaigne, Shakespeare, and others, Mann demonstrates that the fascination with Orpheus produced some of the most canonical literature of the age. Delving into the impact of ancient Greek thought and poetry in the early modern era, The Trials of Orpheus sheds light on how the powers of rhetoric became a focus of English thought and literature.

William Spencer is troubled not only by stereotypical teen angst, but by an invisible disease that seems to be picking his mind apart day by day, leaving him with an unyielding hollow emptiness. His strange, yet somewhat effective method of coping involves many late-night walks around his sleepy neighborhood, armed with a pen in his hand and a poem in his mind. Midnight Meanders seeks to reveal the true actions of the teenage mind, not just regurgitate assumptions made by adults. It passes through the stages of anxiety and angst; of pessimism and encouragement; most of all, of discovery. As William journeys through his own mind, revelations are made, relationships are broken and restored, and a faith that once seemed extinct is rediscovered and renewed. ,