REL 4931 - The Power of Myth

THE POWER OF MYTH

REL 4931

To Some I Have Talked with by the Fire
William Butler Yeats

While I wrought out these fitful Danaan rhymes,
My heart would brim with dreams about the times
When we bent down above the fading coals
And talked of the dark folks who live in souls
Of passionate men, like bats in dead trees;
And of the wayward twilight companies
Who sigh with mingled sorrow and content,
Because their blossoming dreams have never bent
Under the fruit of evil and of good:
And of the embattled flaming multitude
Who rise, wing above wing, flame above flame,
And, like a storm, cry the Ineffable Name,
And with the clashing of their sword-blades make
A rapturous music, till the morning break
And the white hush end all but the loud beat
Of their long wings, the flash of their white feet.

This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor !

Course Objectives

This course will explore the nature and function of myth. By the end of the course, students should be able to describe

what myth is
how it functions
why it's important
how it relates to ritual and symbol
how it develops, and
how certain scholars have approached it.

Course Calendar: Spring 2008

JAN 7 Intros; syllabus. What is myth? Myth, ritual, relationships

JAN 14 Myth and Origins. Watunna

JAN 21 Functions of myth; myth and meaning (Ausband quiz)

Read: Ausband, ch. 1-4

Swinbourne's Hymn to Proserpine

JAN 28 Early approaches to myth; myth and ritual

FEB 4 Frazer: Renewal myth: Lord of the Dance--Osiris
Read: Frazer 1, 2, 3

FEB 11 Mystical myth--mystery cults: Black Orpheus

FEB 18       Eliade: Cosmological myth; sacred space and time
                              Read: Eliade (Bio and Thought sections)

FEB 25               Ausband: Sociological myt
                          Read: Ausband, ch. 5-7

MAR 4 May: Psychological myth (May quiz)

Read: May

MAR 11 Campbell: The hero's journey (Campbell quiz)

Read: Campbell, Pt. II (quiz)

MAR 16-21 ------------------SPRING BREAK---------------------

OVER SPRING BREAK READ Quarantine

MAR 25 Socially constructed reality; universality vs. particularity

DUE: Hero assignment

APR 1          Mythmaking (Crace quiz)


APR 8                  The Power of Myth
                                DUE: Quarantine assignment

APR 15 Mythtelling: Quarantine redux

Read = to be read by date shown on syllabus
= items in BLACK are links to required readings
Due = to be handed in on the day shown on the syllabus

Texts

It will not matter what edition you get of these books, or whether you get the hard or paper bound. I have listed one for your reference, but they are all the same for our purposes. Prices cited are from Amazon.

S. Ausband Myth and Meaning, Myth and Order

ISBN-10: 0865548994, ISBN-13: 978-0865548992

Price: $25 new; many available online for less

J. Campbell The Hero with a Thousand Faces (any edition)

ISBN-10: 1577315936; ISBN-13: 978-1577315933

Price: $15 (latest edition); many, many available used

Rollo May The Cry for Myth

ISBN-10: 0393331776; ISBN-13: 978-0393331776

Price: $18; quite a few used online

Jim Crace Quarantine

ISBN-10: 0312199511; ISBN-13: 978-0312199517

Price: $11.20; many used available

Assignments

Note that the two written assignments come close together on the syllabus. This is to give you maximum time to work on them. DO NOT delay that work! Neither of these assignments can be done properly without sufficient thought. Start working on the hero films early in the semester! Read Quarantine no later than spring break!

Assignment 1: The Hero's Journey

Campbell's typology of myth has clearly been derived from the works of many artists who preceded him. It has also influenced art--particularly popular art--subsequent to the publication of his books.

Check out of the video store, library, or your kids' closet either Star Wars 4-6 (the original trilogy), the Indiana Jones films (all four), the Batman or Spiderman series, or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Review the films carefully in light of your study of Campbell's pattern of the hero's adventure, as described in The Hero with a Thousand Faces and in Campbell's writings and videotaped interviews and classes.Alternatively, you can choose the story of Jesus as found in the Christian scriptures (New Testament) to write on.

Write a serious (but not necessarily humorless), very thorough, carefully argued analysis of the hero "monomyth" as it is played out in one of these three-part sagas. Your paper should include at least these elements:

an enumeration of the basic elements of the hero's journey, as described by Campbell;
a parallel description, blow by blow, of how that pattern is worked out in the films IN DETAIL;
a detailed analysis of the meaning of these mythic events, as enacted in the films (for example, what is really going on when either Luke or Indy faces his father near the end of either set? What is happening in the lives of the characters/ development of the myth?)
a description of how Campbell's work is reflected in the work of the filmmakers;
a discussion of the effectiveness and/or value of the use of this pattern in popular art, with reflection on whether it is "important" or not;
a broader analysis of the role of myth in art and society.

Your paper should be interesting, insightful (you are expected to do more than parrot what has been written elsewhere about Campbell and Lucas), and reflective of the work of the course as a whole. Don't just describe the movies for me--I know them already.

Anything less than ten pages wouldn't get the job done, and even that would be thin. Details, details, details. Be creative.

Assignment 2: Quarantine

For this assignment, you will need to read Jim Crace’s Quarantine carefully. In fact, you may have to re-read it several times. You are also invited to read the reviews and analyses you can find on the web, which might help you to get a handle on the novel’s plot and characters. But beware! I do not think the reviews get at the heart of what is going on in the book. This assignment is an exercise in what Campbell calls "reading" a myth—i.e., looking at a story from the point of view of myth and interpreting it accordingly.

Thinking Part

1. To begin with, sort out the characters.

Who is the main character? Not just the one you like the best or think is most important, but who makes the story “move”? Why do you think Crace set up his story this way? Why is this character the center of the story? What are the key personality traits of the character as described by Crace? Why do you think he emphasizes these?
Is the character of Jesus presented realistically or mystically? Does he seem like a flesh-and-blood person? Why or why not?
Consider the other characters. Do they represent something, individually or collectively?

2. Now take a look at the plot.

On the simplest level, outline the plot. What happens in the book? Is it realistically represented? Is there any reason to suspect this is anything other than a straightforward tale of a series of factual events?
What key event(s) provide the possibility that the story may have a mystical or metaphysical or otherworldly aspect to it? Do they, in fact, take the story out of the realm of the factual and historical? Or do they make it a “miracle” story? How can you tell?
What actually happens at the end of the novel? What do you think is the most important of the events recounted at/near the conclusion? Which do you think Crace thinks is most important?

Writing Part

Answer this question, in a carefully considered, detailed, deeply analytical essay (4-6 pp??):

Why did I assign this book for a course on myth?

Some questions that have threaded throughout the course, to keep in mind:

· What is myth?
· Where does it come from?
· Is myth true?
· What are myth, symbol, and ritual ultimately about?

REL 5025 (Myth & Religion)

Mything Links

Jungian Psychology

Joseph Campbell Foundation

Foundation for Mythological Studies

The Camelot Project

The Probert Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia Mythica

I will tell you something about stories
[he said]
    They aren't just entertainment.
     Don't be fooled.
They are all that we have, you see,
    all we have to fight off
    illness and death.
You don't have anything
    if you don't have stories
        ----
And in the belly of this story
the rituals and the ceremony
    are still growing.
    [What she said]
The only cure
I know
is a good ceremony,
that's what she said.
---Leslie Marmon Silko