Author: Boris Nad Publisher: ISBN: 9780994595805 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 148
Book Description
The Return of Myth evokes mythical constructs, that hide "dangerous intuitions" - including legends of Hyperborea, Ultima Thule, Atlantis, and European myths all the way through to America. The Return of Myth offers the reader a unique expedition through space and time, through history and prehistory, on a journey marked by a return to the mythical homeland of our ancestors and to the sacred center. The natural and logical completion of this society which is alienated from the 'center' is the 'consumer civilization', embodied in today's USA or EU, which is a technocracy where man is only the 'consumer' or customer, an expendable addition to large technological systems. This impending technocratic 'utopia', represents totalitarianism in its final form. All of this is implied by fundamental changes in art, and in culture in general, which is gradually turning into a 'subculture', a kind of commercial activity or social engineering which will have the effect of anesthesia on its consumers or drugs that relieve the utopian fantasies of the masses. By combining an examination of ancient civilizations with contemporary political thought, Boris Nad creates something entirely different, a depiction of humanities ancient origin and the direction of our future, leaving the reader to wonder if our history will end with a mythical utopia or a very real dystopia.
Author: Publisher: ISBN: Category : Epic poetry, Greek Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
"The main argument of this book is that the connection suggested by Homer between the 'wiles' and the 'wanderings' of Odysseus in fact rested upon an earlier tradition both significant and deep. The origin of this tradition has to do with the etymology of the Greek word nóos, 'mind', which I propose to connect with the Greek verb néomai, 'return home'. Such an effort requires that nóos be reconstructed as nos-os, a derivative from the verbal root nes- The significance of this proposal for the tradition underlying the Odyssey is clear. It implies that the connection still felt by Homer between the 'wiliness' and the 'wandering' of Odysseus goes back to a fundamental connection between 'mind' and 'returning home', and that the relation between what Odysseus 'is' and what he 'does' has a solid basis in the history of the Greek language."--Introduction.
Author: Frederick A. de Armas Publisher: University Press of Kentucky ISBN: 0813162793 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 273
Book Description
In classical mythology Astraea, the goddess of justice, chastity, and truth, was the last of the immortals to leave Earth with the decline of the ages. Her return was to signal the dawn of a new Golden Age. This myth not only survived the Christian Middle Ages but also became a commonplace in the Renaissance when courtly poets praised their patrons and princes by claiming that Astraea guided them. The literary cult of Astraea persisted in the sixteenth century as writers saw in Elizabeth I of England the imperial Astraea who would lead mankind to peace through universal rule. This and other late flowerings of the Astraea myth should not be taken as the final phases of her history. Frederick A. de Armas documents in this book what may well be the last great rebirth of Astraea, one that is probably of greater political, religious, and literary significance than others previously described by historians and literary critics. The Return of Astraea focuses on the seventeenth-century Spanish playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca, and analyzes the deity's presence in thirteen of his plays, including his masterpiece, La Vida es Sueho. Her popularity in this period is partially attributed to political motives, reflecting the aspirations and fears of the Spanish monarch Philip IV. In this broad study, grounded on such diverse fields as astrology, iconography, history, mythology, and philosophy, de Armas explains that Astraea adopts many guises in Calderón's dramas. Ranging from the Kabbalah to Platonic thought and from satires on Olivares to cosmogonic myths, he analyzes and reinterprets Calderón's theater from a wide range of perspectives centered on the playwright's utilization of the myth of Astraea. The book thus represents a new view of Calderón's dramaturgy and also documents the popularity and significance of this astral-imperial myth during the Spanish Golden Age.
Author: Mircea Eliade Publisher: Princeton University Press ISBN: 0691238324 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 228
Book Description
First published in English in 1954, this founding work of the history of religions secured the North American reputation of the Romanian émigré-scholar Mircea Eliade. Making reference to an astonishing number of cultures and drawing on scholarship published in no fewer than half a dozen European languages, The Myth of the Eternal Return illuminates the religious beliefs and rituals of a wide variety of archaic religious cultures. While acknowledging that a return to their practices is impossible, Eliade passionately insists on the value of understanding their views to enrich the contemporary imagination of what it is to be human. This book includes an introduction from Jonathan Z. Smith that provides essential context and encourages readers to engage in an informed way with this classic text.
Author: Robert Ellwood Publisher: State University of New York Press ISBN: 1438402023 Category : Religion Languages : en Pages : 232
Book Description
The Politics of Myth examines the political views implicit in the mythological theories of three of the most widely read popularizers of myth in the twentieth century, C. G. Jung, Mircea Eliade, and Joseph Campbell. All three had intellectual roots in the anti-modern pessimism and romanticism that also helped give rise to European fascism, and all three have been accused of fascist and anti-Semitic sentiments. At the same time, they themselves tended toward individualistic views of the power of myth, believing that the world of ancient myth contained resources that could be of immense help to people baffled by the ambiguities and superficiality of modern life. Robert Ellwood details the life and thought of each mythologist and the intellectual and spiritual worlds within which they worked. He reviews the damaging charges that have been made about their politics, taking them seriously while endeavoring to put them in the context of the individual's entire career and lifetime contribution. Above all, he seeks to extract from their published work the view of the political world that seems most congruent with it.
Author: David Adams Leeming Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 9780195161052 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 196
Book Description
"Whether it is the "American Dream," alien abduction, or belief in virgin birth and resurrection, these "living myths" play a very therapeutic role in the development of a healthy society. In Myth: A Biography of Belief, David Leeming shows that myths are still a fitting way to capture "the soul's high adventure.""--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Edward F. Malkowski Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1620551985 Category : Body, Mind & Spirit Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
The truth behind ancient myths and the return of the celestial conditions for a Golden Age of peace and abundance • Reveals the events preserved in myth that launched humanity into 12,000 years of struggle, selfishness, and false beliefs • Explores how we can initiate a new Golden Age through ancient Egyptian teachings on the creative power of our imaginations • Explains how our world system of economics, which benefits a few at the expense of the many, arose as a reaction to global catastrophe in prehistory Since the beginning of recorded history humanity has been in a continuous struggle over land and resources. It continues today despite the abundance we have created through scientific innovation and technology. Why such a struggle for resources exists has never been explained. Neither has the human drive to own, accumulate, and hoard. Edward Malkowski reveals that the answer lies in recognizing the reality behind humanity’s earliest myths. He shows that the opportunity is at hand to transcend these inherited selfish traits and return to a Golden Age of peace and abundance. Malkowski explores the hidden meaning behind stories such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, Plato’s Atlantis, and myths of a new sky and a new sun, of great floods and the death of the gods, and of the preceding Golden Age. He connects these myths to a real extinction event that occurred 12,000 years ago. He explains how the survivors--our ancestors--were catapulted from utopia into a world of scarcity, scarring the collective mind of humanity and initiating the struggle for resources in an attempt to regain our lost paradise. He shows how our world system of economics, focused on ownership and based on the false belief of separateness--benefitting a few at the expense of the many--arose as a reaction to this catastrophe. Drawing on the pre-catastrophe teachings preserved by the ancient Egyptians, Malkowski reveals that we are returning to a celestial configuration parallel to that of the past Golden Age. Through our collective DNA memory and the creative power of our imaginations, we can end our 12,000-year quest to regain paradise lost and launch a new Golden Age of unity, abundance, and equality for all humanity.
Author: Gabriel Piterberg Publisher: Verso Books ISBN: 1789603978 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 441
Book Description
In this original and wide-ranging study, Gabriel Piterberg examines theideology and literature behind the colonization of Palestine, from the latenineteenth century to the present. Exploring Zionism's origins in Central-EasternEuropean nationalism and settler movements, he shows how its texts can beplaced within a wider discourse of western colonization. Revisiting the work ofTheodor Herzl and Gershom Scholem, Anita Shapira and David Ben-Gurion, andbringing to light the writings of lesser-known scholars and thinkersinfluential in the formation of the Zionist myth, Piterberg breaks openprevailing views of Zionism, demonstrating that it was in fact unexceptional,expressing a consciousness and imagination typical of colonial settlermovements. Shaped by European ideological currents and the realities ofcolonial life, Zionism constructed its own story as a unique and impregnableone, in the process excluding the voices of an indigenous people-thePalestinian Arabs.
Author: Rebecca Earle Publisher: Duke University Press ISBN: 9780822340843 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 380
Book Description
The Return of the Native offers a look at the role of preconquest peoples such as the Aztecs and the Incas in the imagination of Spanish American elites in the first century after independence.
Author: Robert Asprin Publisher: Ace ISBN: 9780441013463 Category : Demonology Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
A magician's apprentice teams up with the demon Aahz and experiences a variety of adventures with many strange, other-worldy characters.
Author: Boris Nad
Author: 
Author: Frederick A. de Armas
Author: Mircea Eliade
Author: Robert Ellwood
Author: David Adams Leeming
Author: Edward F. Malkowski
Author: Gabriel Piterberg
Author: Rebecca Earle
Author: Robert Asprin