The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth Instructor Resources The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth is intended as a key resource for those Higher Education students that are taking modules with a focus on theories of mythology. The Reader has been designed to collect together, in one portable and easy to access place, those resources that (over our 10 years of delivering modules that explore the study of myth) students have reported they found most useful. It is our belief that students benefit greatly from actually reading the writings of core theorists, which are all too often misrepresented in the standard glosses that make up the history of approaches. The readings have however been presented in an abridged format and with an introductory piece of framing writing in the belief that these measures will encourage undergraduate engagement with these important source materials. It is true that all the readings in the Reader present a degree of challenge to the undergraduate student; however none are beyond their comprehension, especially with the help of a supportive learning environment and instructor. It is the intent of this ever developing resource to provide support for instructors who feel that they would benefit from such, we would also like to open this material to comments, addition and amendments from instructors, as a way of further sharing aspects of good practice. The Reader has been constructed with a certain degree of flow and readings have been both categorised by topic and arranged in an order that we have found useful for introducing students to the academic exploration of mythology. The following outline presumes that three of the short readings will be completed before each class and that the classes will follow the order of the reader. However, variations on this process are possible. For example, if instructors judge that the ability of their students and the time that they have available would be better served by spending two weeks on one section, or even three weeks on one section (giving a student work load of one reading per https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-bloomsbury-reader-in-the-study-of-myth-9781350082250/ The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth, Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2019 The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth week) then the book can be used in this way, with the only real negative impact being the amount of timetabled weeks needed to cover all the material in the book. However, each reading can stand on its own, and, while the various sections speak to each other, it is not necessary to cover every section, or even every reading in any given section, to achieve development of understanding. Finally, it is worth noting that the order of the readings is deliberate and there is an assumption in the material below that certain understandings developed by engagement with earlier sections of the book are brought to the analysis of the later texts. However, with some modification, it is possible to read the texts in a different order to that presented in the book and even to jump sections of the book entirely if the instructor deems this necessary. Session 1: Introducing Mythology Students come to the first class with different ideas and expectations about what a module exploring theories of mythology will cover. This session can be used to establish a base line of comprehension through the sharing of individual understandings of what myth is and what it can do. These ideas can be worked into a collective, initial class definition of mythology that can be returned to throughout the programme to explore how understandings have been transformed by engagement with the course materials. It may also be useful at this point to introduce the concepts of folklore and legend as a way of gauging the class’s initial response to these (id est as potentially distinct, or overlapping, categories to myth). In order to make this more concrete, it is useful to ask members of the class for an example of something that they feel is myth and then test that understanding against the definition that has been developed – the instructor here may want to try to provoke debate https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-bloomsbury-reader-in-the-study-of-myth-9781350082250/ The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth, Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2019 The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth by introducing material that would stretch the definition of mythology that the students have developed. At the end of the class you should introduce the scope and flow of the module and set the first group of required readings. Session 2: Locating the Field This session provides the students with the first opportunity to integrate their own implicit definitions and understandings of mythology with those of three highly influential figures in the development of the academic understanding of mythology. By the end of the session students should have developed an understanding of three relatively straightforward typologies. They should be confident in their ability to assess these definitions against familiar myths and common-sense conceptions, as well as being able to talk intelligently about the similarities and differences in the three author’s definitions of myth. Students should also be encouraged to think about the consequences of the various definitions for the analysis of mythology. Core Texts in the Reader 1) A Two-Dimensional Scheme for the Classification of Narratives C. Scott Littleton 2) The Idea of Folklore Daniel Ben Amos 3) Myth in Primitive Society Bronislaw Malinowski https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-bloomsbury-reader-in-the-study-of-myth-9781350082250/ The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth, Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2019 The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth Sample Class Questions/Debates • What differences and similarities do you detect between your own understanding of mythology and these approaches? How does Malinowski’s definition of myth differ from that of Littleton? • Do these definitions force the inclusion of material that you are uncomfortable with viewing as myth? And why? Do these definitions exclude anything from the category of myth that you would want to be there? Sample Further Print Resources Bascom, W. (1953) “Folklore and Anthropology,” Journal of American Folk-Lore 66: 283-290 Dégh, L. (2001) Legend and Belief: dialectics of a folklore genre. Indiana University Press . Honko, L. (1972) “The Problems of Defining Myth,” Scripta Instituti Donneriana 6. Dundes, A. (1980) Interpreting Folklore. Indiana University Press. Kerenyi, K (1969) “Prolegomena” in Jung and Kerenyi (eds), Essays on a science of mythology: the myth of the divine child and the mysterious of Eleusis. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press. Kirk, G.S. (1973) “On Defining Myths,” A Journal for Ancient Philosophy 1: 61-69. Lincoln, B. (1999) Theorizing Myth: narrative, ideology and scholarship. Chicago University Press. Segal, R. (2004) Myth: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford Uni Press Online Resources Video Resource: a light hearted yet informative song about Malinowski’s theories by the Famous Dead Germans with a video that contains several fieldwork photographs of Malinowski. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eB4BveCsII Brief online presentation of a typology for Myth, Folktale and Legend. https://www.thoughtco.com/defining-terms-myth-folklore-legend-735039 As above, but aimed specifically at teachers. http://myths.e2bn.org/teachers/info311-what-are-myths-legends-and-folktales.html https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-bloomsbury-reader-in-the-study-of-myth-9781350082250/ The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth, Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2019 The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth Video Resource: a documentary about Malinowski. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f22VsAlOwbc Video Resource: Scott Littleton talking on Paranormal TV. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8senl Session 3: Global Theories of Myth This is a rich session that moves the focus from simply trying to define mythology to that of exploring the apparent similarity of the content of so many myths and the consequence of this for our understanding. The session pairs well with class ten and instructors may wish to skip straight to class ten after this session, or introduce some of the material from class ten here. We have found however that the discussion of mythology in the modern world works better when it is informed by a greater range of engagement with distinct theories of myth. For that reason, we introduce this material here and recommend making only brief allusions to its relevance for contemporary understandings of myth. The session also benefits from its close proximity to session four, which presents the opportunity to develop and further explore many of the core issues that are first raised here. Instructors may need to foreground the Rank reading with a brief overview of the core concepts of Freudian analysis. Freud will still be a familiar name to many students and many will have an implicit understanding of key ideas. However it has to be remembered that contemporary students may be less aware of Freud’s core concepts than is readily assumed and without this understanding both the Rank and the Campbell readings could prove challenging. It is perhaps worth underscoring that the Campbell reading we have chosen to include in the Reader is not his clearest outline of his famous Hero’s Journey. This is readily available online (as well as several variants of the journey) and the materials listed below can be used to point students towards that outline. However, we would encourage students to also engage directly with the reading https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-bloomsbury-reader-in-the-study-of-myth-9781350082250/ The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth, Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 2019 The Bloomsbury Reader in the Study of Myth we have chosen for the Reader, which covers the broader scope of Campbell’s Monomyth theory, at the same time as presenting the essence of Campbell’s argument for the origins of myth and its inherent value.