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This is a rich and comprehensive book with a wide view over the landscape of mythology as described, primarily, in literature, as well as in film and psychological theories. It provides an interesting and knowledgeable bridge between myths or mythological themes and the unconscious. The book is written by psychoanalytically-oriented academics, and it deals with new views
on ancient myths, as well as modern mythological expressions in films and television series, summarized in a lovely way by Leon Burnett:
‘Taken together, the chapters in Myth, Literature, and the Unconscious position myth as an area of study in its own right, unified by a creative tension in which the interests of distinct disciplines that focus on fantasia and fable, on ritual and archetype, on quest and sacrifice, on religion and community, on nature and culture, and on attitudes to death and love, converge’. (p. xii)
This vivid, colourful, interesting and inspiring collection of articles is well edited by three scholars from the University of Essex: Leon Burnett, Ph.D., Reader of Literature and Director of the Centre for Myth Studies; Sanja Bahun, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies; and Roderick Main, Ph.D., Professor in the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies.
The book falls in five main sections with two or three articles in each section:
In ‘Apocalypse, transformation and scapegoating: moving myth into the 21st century’, Steven F. Walker, Ph.D., Professor of Comparative Literature at Rutgers University, US, takes us from ancient myths on apocalypse and scapegoating to contemporary illustrations of the theme. Walker's view on the myth of the apocalypse is the view of the need for personal transformation, and he uses the Jungian psychological view in his arguments. He also argues for dealing intellectually with myths via emotional thinking as a necessary step in the direction of rational thinking, thus providing access to