Chapter Twenty-Four Lecture Two Theories of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

Romantic Theories

Friedrich Creuzer –Symbolism and Mythology of the Ancient Peoples, Especially the Greeks Johann Bachofen –Das Mutterrecht –Friedrich Engles, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State –Vladimir Propp

Anthropological Theories

Edward Tylor –Primitive Culture –Andrew Lang, Myth, Literature, and Religion James Frazer –The Golden Bough –Ritual theory of myth

Anthropological Theories Bronislaw Malinowski –Magic, Science and Religion –Charter theory of myth –Functionalism

Linguistic Theories Max Müller –Solar mythology –Disease of language William Jones –Indo-European –Indo-European comparative mythology George Dumézil –Functions in IE society

Psychological Theories

Sigmund Freud –Condensation –Displacement –Oedipus Complex –The Interpretation of Dreams Carl Jung –Collective unconscious –Archetypes

Psychological Theories Erich Neumann –Dragon combat –Great Mother

Structuralist Theories

Claude Lévi-Strauss –Reconciliation of opposites Paris school of myth criticism –“Syntax” of the interrelations of myths –E.g. Hestia and Hermes

Contextual Approaches

Walter Burkert –Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual –Programs of action Feminist criticism –Some myths explain and reinforce women’s social roles

Conclusion

Humans create an alternate world through myth Grand theorizers –Must disregard what doesn’t square with or doesn’t seem important to the theory –Myth, particularly classical myth, is too varied to be understood by one approach

End