Theories of Mythology

Preface.

1. Introducing “Myth”.

2. Comparative Approaches:.

The Rise of the Comparative Method.

Max Müller and Solar Mythology.

James Frazer.

The World According to Frazer: Problems and Presuppositions.

The Urmyth: A Study in and of Comparison.

Comparison of the Greek and Hittite Myths of the Divine Succession.

3. Psychology:.

Freud and the Discovery of the Unconscious.

Psychoanalysis to Myth Analysis.

Freud and Anthropology.

Freud in his Social and Theoretical Context.

4. Ritual Theories:.

Social Anthropology.

Jane Harrison and Ritualism.

Walter Burkert and Biosociology.

Burkert’s Homo Necans.

5. Structuralism:.

Saussure and Structural Linguistics.

Syntagmatic Structuralism.

A Critique of Syntagmatic Structuralism.

Paradigmatic Structuralism.

Mediation.

Total Structure.

Totalizing Structure.

6. Social Ideologies:.

Structure and Ideology.

Poststructualisms, Postmodernism, and Ideology.

Decrypting Ideology.

An Ideological Analysis of the Myth of Heracles.

Epilogue.

A Little Further Reading.

Bibliography.

Index