Hum 130: Myth in Human Culture

Course Outline

 

Texts:

Little, C. Scott, ed. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling, San Diego, CA: Thunder Bay Press, 2002.  (MIA) 

 

Thury, Eva M and Devinney, Margaret K. Introduction to Mythology:  Contemporary Approaches to Classical and World Myths, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2005.  (ITM)

Part One:  Introduction

WEEK 1-2:  (8/21-8/30)

ITM Ch. 1, "What is Myth?”

ITM Ch. 2, “Ways of Understanding Myth”

Part Two A:  Myths of Creation and Destruction: Creation

WEEK 3:  (9/4-9/6)

ITM   Ch. 3, “Greek Creation Stories”

MIA   pgs. 136-144

ITM Ch. 4, “Ovid’s Creation Story”

WEEK 4:  (9/11-9/13)

ITM Ch.  5, “Biblical Creation Stories”

ITM Ch. 6, “The Prose Edda’s Creation Stories”

 MIA pgs. 276-278

WEEK 5:  (9/18-9/20)

ITM Ch. 7, “Native American Creation Stories from the Southwestern United States”

MIA pgs. 590-595

ITM Ch. 8, “African Creation Stories”

MIA pgs. 626-628

Part Two B: Myths of Creation and Destruction: Destruction

WEEK 6:  (9/25-9/27)

ITM Ch. 9, “Ragnarok”

MIA pgs. 320-325

WEEK 7:  (10/2-10/4)

FALL BREAK 10/6-10/7

ITM Ch. 10, “Biblical Flood Stories”

ITM Ch. 11, “Ovid’s Flood Story”

Part Three:  Heroes and Tricksters 

WEEK 8:  (10/9-10/11)

ITM Ch. 12, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

ITM Ch. 13, The Epic of Gilgamesh

MIA pgs. 116-133

ITM Ch. 14, “A Levi-Straussian Analysis of The Epic of Gilgamesh”

ITM Ch. 15, “The Ramayana”

MIA pgs. 352-359

WEEK 9: (10/16-10/18)

ITM Ch.  16, “Heroes in The Prose Edda”

MIA pgs. 282,286,296

ITM Ch. 17, Oedipus the King

ITM Ch. 18, “The Structural Study of the Myth”

ITM Ch. 19, “Raven: A Native American Trickster”

MIA pgs. 508-511

WEEK 10: (10/23-10/25)

ITM Ch. 20, The Mwindo Epic

ITM Ch. 21, “African and African-American Trickster Stories”

ITM Ch. 22, “Prometheus: The Greek Trickster”

MIA pg. 151     

ITM Ch. 23, “ Looking Back at Heroes: The Different Versions of a Myth”

 Part Four: Ritual and Myth

WEEK 11: (10/30-11/1)

 ITM Ch. 24, “Ritual”

ITM Ch. 25, “Demeter and Persephone: The Homeric Hymn to Demeter”

MIA pgs. 162-165

ITM Ch. 26, “Isis and Osiris”

MIA pgs. 42-43

WEEK 12: (11/6-11/8)

 ITM Ch. 27, “Deciphering a Meal”

 ITM Ch. 28, “Rituals of Northern Europe”

 MIA pgs.266-267

 ITM Ch. 29, “Heracles and Dionysus”

 Part Five: Folktale and Myth

 WEEK 13: (11/13-11/15)

 ITM Ch. 32, The Morphology of the Folktale

 ITM Ch. 33, “A Proppian Analysis of The Wizard of Oz”

 ITM Ch. 34, Household Tales

 WEEK 14: (11/20)

 Thanksgiving Break 11/21 – 11/26

 ITM Ch. 35, “Cupid and Psyche”

 ITM Ch. 36, “Using Multiple Analysis to Highlight Different Aspects of the Same Tale”

 Part Six: Modern American Myths 

WEEK 15: (11/27-11/29)

ITM Ch. 37, “A Study of the Construction of the Daniel Boon Myth”

ITM Ch. 38, “Star Trek and The X-Files: The Changing Views of Science and Religion”

Part Seven: Myth and Literature

 WEEK 16: (12/4-12/6)

 ITM Ch. 39, “Mythological Themes in Poetry”

 ITM Ch. 40, “Mythological Themes in Native American Literature”

 ITM Ch. 41, “Mythological Themes in Modern Narrative”

Return to Myth in Human Culture

edited 04/17/07