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Oct. 12th, 2006 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polutropeI'm reading The Hero with a Thousand Faces, and really, I should buy my own copy, so that I can hurl it against the wall, and ritually burn it once I finish. The problem is that it's very interesting, I just haven't agreed with a single thing he's said, and I'm a hundred pages in.
For one thing, I don't like universalism in general, either in langauge or myth. Happily, I get the feeling that most people don't believe in a single universal language. Less happily, Campbell's theories still seem to have a lot of currency.
When I was much younger, I read Andrew Lang's color fairy books. I loved them, because they have gorgeous pictures and all that, but even then I figured out all the stories were similar, and I think that that's because he picked ones that prove his point. There have got to be stories that fall outside that paradigm, and also stories that don't have universal paralells. For example, the "Killing of old men," which this site (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0981.html) {and if anyone can tell me how to do small links, please do} calls 'type 981.' There are a few versions, but they seem to be confined to a certain region.
For another thing, Campbell belives in dreams. I really, really don't. Yes, dreams are a reflection of who you are, or something, but I think that they're too illogical to base theories on. For example, I once had a dream that I was playing a Frenchman in a play, and also stuck on a desert island (it was unclear whether it was in reality or in the play). That makes no sense! Another was that the world was being shaken to pieces, and the only way to escape was in a spaceship, but there was only a limited amount of room. As with stories, you can pick the dreams you want to use, and your point is proved.
Also, using Vergil to show the universal hero seems to be a bad idea, because Vergil consciously imitated Homer. Universiality only works, if it works at all, if stories in complete isolation from each other fit into the same mould. By that logic, you can't use two Western stories, because they are all influenced by each other, consciously or not.
I'm seeing Elisir d'amore tomorrow. Hopefully it will be able to rise over the bloody modern production.
For one thing, I don't like universalism in general, either in langauge or myth. Happily, I get the feeling that most people don't believe in a single universal language. Less happily, Campbell's theories still seem to have a lot of currency.
When I was much younger, I read Andrew Lang's color fairy books. I loved them, because they have gorgeous pictures and all that, but even then I figured out all the stories were similar, and I think that that's because he picked ones that prove his point. There have got to be stories that fall outside that paradigm, and also stories that don't have universal paralells. For example, the "Killing of old men," which this site (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0981.html) {and if anyone can tell me how to do small links, please do} calls 'type 981.' There are a few versions, but they seem to be confined to a certain region.
For another thing, Campbell belives in dreams. I really, really don't. Yes, dreams are a reflection of who you are, or something, but I think that they're too illogical to base theories on. For example, I once had a dream that I was playing a Frenchman in a play, and also stuck on a desert island (it was unclear whether it was in reality or in the play). That makes no sense! Another was that the world was being shaken to pieces, and the only way to escape was in a spaceship, but there was only a limited amount of room. As with stories, you can pick the dreams you want to use, and your point is proved.
Also, using Vergil to show the universal hero seems to be a bad idea, because Vergil consciously imitated Homer. Universiality only works, if it works at all, if stories in complete isolation from each other fit into the same mould. By that logic, you can't use two Western stories, because they are all influenced by each other, consciously or not.
I'm seeing Elisir d'amore tomorrow. Hopefully it will be able to rise over the bloody modern production.
