The Modern Myths

The Modern Myths PDF Author: Philip Ball
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226823849
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
With The Modern Myths, brilliant science communicator Philip Ball spins a new yarn. From novels and comic books to B-movies, it is an epic exploration of literature, new media and technology, the nature of storytelling, and the making and meaning of our most important tales. Myths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time—fun and fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball shows, we are still writing them—and still living them—today. From Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein to Batman, many stories written in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called “modern myths.” But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously. Our stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did. Through the medium of narratives that all of us know in their basic outline and which have no clear moral or resolution, these modern myths explore some of our deepest fears, dreams, and anxieties. We keep returning to these tales, reinventing them endlessly for new uses. But what are they really about, and why do we need them? What myths are still taking shape today? And what makes a story become a modern myth? In The Modern Myths, Ball takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our collective imagination, asking what some of its most popular stories reveal about the nature of being human in the modern age.

The Modern Myths

The Modern Myths PDF Author: Philip Ball
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226823849
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 437

Get Book Here

Book Description
With The Modern Myths, brilliant science communicator Philip Ball spins a new yarn. From novels and comic books to B-movies, it is an epic exploration of literature, new media and technology, the nature of storytelling, and the making and meaning of our most important tales. Myths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time—fun and fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball shows, we are still writing them—and still living them—today. From Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein to Batman, many stories written in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called “modern myths.” But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously. Our stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did. Through the medium of narratives that all of us know in their basic outline and which have no clear moral or resolution, these modern myths explore some of our deepest fears, dreams, and anxieties. We keep returning to these tales, reinventing them endlessly for new uses. But what are they really about, and why do we need them? What myths are still taking shape today? And what makes a story become a modern myth? In The Modern Myths, Ball takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our collective imagination, asking what some of its most popular stories reveal about the nature of being human in the modern age.

Literature and Film as Modern Mythology

Literature and Film as Modern Mythology PDF Author: William K. Ferrell
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 031300286X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Novels and films record and codify the cultural experiences of their people. This book explores the relationship between contemporary literature and film of the past fifty years and the ancient myths of Judeo-Christian, Greek, Celtic, and Eastern origin. Following a detailed description and explanation of both literary and film devices, stories that inform to a mythic tradition are analyzed to identify what they reveal about modern culture. This work explores such diverse subjects as heroism, coming of age, and morality. This approach to literature and film explores how contemporary fiction and film fulfill a continuum in our never-ending search to understand how life ought to be lived. Encompassing a broad spectrum of modern film and fiction, a variety of authors and directors are represented. Included are novels from such writers as Stephen King, Alice Walker, Ken Kesey, Jerzy Kosinski, Robert Penn Warren, and Michael Ondaatje. Film directors include Stephen Spielberg, Hal Ashby, Phil Alden Robinson, George Stevens, Robert Rossen, and Milos Forman. As a valuable resource for film and literature classes alike, this work also provides suggestions for student projects.

Oh My Gods

Oh My Gods PDF Author: Philip Freeman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451609973
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The author, a professor of classics and visiting scholar at the Harvard Divinity school presents modern interpretations of traditional Greek and Roman myths that render classic themes accessible to a new generation of readers. Here he retells some of the most popular myths and tales of errant gods, fantastic creatures, and human heroes, including powerful Zeus, his wife Hera, Apollo, beautiful Aphrodite, fierce Athena, the dauntless heroes Theseus and Hercules, the doomed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice, as well as the tales of the Argonauts, and the narrative of the Battle of Troy. These Greek and Roman myths are as relevant today as ever in their sharp observations about human nature; they still inspire awe, give us courage, and break our hearts. They have inspired plays, operas, and paintings, and live on today in movies and video games. -- From back cover.

Super Heroes

Super Heroes PDF Author: Richard Reynolds
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
ISBN: 9780878056941
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
A study of one of popular culture's superstars whose enchanting mystique pervades the modern world

The Mythology of Modern Law

The Mythology of Modern Law PDF Author: Peter Fitzpatrick
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134890508
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Book Description
The Mythology of Modern Law is a radical reappraisal of the role of myth in modern society. Peter Fitzpatrick uses the example of law, as an integral category of modern social thought, to challenge the claims of modernity which deny the relevance of myth to modern society.

Gods Behaving Badly

Gods Behaving Badly PDF Author: Marie Phillips
Publisher: Vintage Canada
ISBN: 0307371271
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
A highly entertaining novel set in North London, where the Greek gods have been living in obscurity since the seventeenth century. Being immortal isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Life’s hard for a Greek god in the twenty-first century: nobody believes in you any more, even your own family doesn’t respect you, and you’re stuck in a dilapidated hovel in North London with too many siblings and not enough hot water. But for Artemis (goddess of hunting, professional dog walker), Aphrodite (goddess of beauty, telephone sex operator) and Apollo (god of the sun, TV psychic) there’s no way out... until a meek cleaner and her would-be boyfriend come into their lives and turn the world upside down. Gods Behaving Badly is that rare thing, a charming, funny, utterly original novel that satisfies the head and the heart.

Myths for the Modern Age

Myths for the Modern Age PDF Author: Win Scott Eckert
Publisher: Monkeybrain
ISBN: 9781932265149
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In his classic biographies of fictional characters (Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life), Hugo- and Nebula-award winning author Philip Jose Farmer introduced the Wold Newton family, a collection of heroes and villains whose family-tree includes Sherlock Holmes, Fu Manchu, Philip Marlowe, and James Bond. In books, stories, and essays he expanded the concept even further, adding more branches to the Wold Newton family-tree. MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSE FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE collects for the first time those rarely-seen essays. Expanding the family even farther are contributions from Farmer's successors-scholars, writers, and pop-culture historians-who bring even more fictional characters into the fold.

Japan's Modern Myths

Japan's Modern Myths PDF Author: Carol Gluck
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691008127
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Ideology played a momentous role in modern Japanese history. Not only did the elite of imperial Japan (1890-1945) work hard to influence the people to "yield as the grasses before the wind," but historians of modern Japan later identified these efforts as one of the underlying pathologies of World War II. Available for the first time in paperback, this study examines how this ideology evolved. Carol Gluck argues that the process of formulating and communicating new national values was less consistent than is usually supposed. By immersing the reader in the talk and thought of the late Meiji period, Professor Gluck recreates the diversity of ideological discourse experienced by Japanese of the time. The result is a new interpretation of the views of politics and the nation in imperial Japan.

The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods

The Mythology of Modern Dating Methods PDF Author: John Woodmorappe
Publisher: Inst for Creation Research
ISBN: 9780932766571
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description


Mythology for Moderns

Mythology for Moderns PDF Author: James Stetson Metcalfe
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mythology
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description