Myth and Literature: Contemporary Theory and Practice

Abstract

Parts I and II are substantial and useful surveys of cultural and literary theory and its development, and are pretty well packed with suggestive general ideas. But for many readers the twenty-one essays of Part III, dealing with specific and more of less familiar works, may be the most provocative. These studies exemplify mythic criticism in action, in interpretations of a wide variety of authors and works, mainly of prose fiction...This volume helps to consolidate the value and the diverse uses of myth for both artist and critic...[Professor Vickery's] book should appeal both to the large body of the sophisticated and to what one may imagine as an also large number of people who have known that 'myth' has been very much in the air but have not been initiated into either philosophic theory or critical practice.--Douglas Bush, Harvard Educational Review. A collection without parallel...Whether for historical interest in the fads and fashions of literary study or as the best single source for an overview of the best that has been said about the subject in the past 20 years, this collection is without peer.--Choice. This collection of thirty-four major essays devoted to the theories, methods, and problems of myth criticism offers a convenient and substantial introduction to one of the most distinctive trends in contemporary literary study.

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