How useful is the monomyth?

edutton said:

This morning I came across this:
Why Folklorists Hate Campbell

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Yep. Aside from his ethnocentric patriarchal approach to tales that are wrenched out of all context, he makes really boneheaded errors that he shouldn't have made.

Like using bowdlerized translations; he uses Lady Charlotte Guest's translation of the Mabinogi, a translation with a Victorian sensibility that censors some pretty important parts of the Mabinogi.

He equates all representations of divinity with a Romanized Western pantheon, for instance. Even in reference to non-related languages.

AW Admin said:

Yep. Aside from his ethnocentric patriarchal approach to tales that are wrenched out of all context, he makes really boneheaded errors that he shouldn't have made.

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When I was in college in the early 80s, I had the opportunity to take a semester Myth Studies course with one of Campbell's protégés; it was a very interesting class, but sometimes I wonder how different it would look if it were taught today. We were definitely taught to approach the Great Man's (TM) work with a high degree of deference... I know MY understanding is a lot deeper than it was then, and I think the field has grown as well.

(But, as is also way true in a lot of the pagan community, the scholarship that has made its way out to the point that it's influencing the non-academic public is 30 years out of date!)

edutton said:

(But, as is also way true in a lot of the pagan community, the scholarship that has made its way out to the point that it's influencing the non-academic public is 30 years out of date!)

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And on a related note, THIS looks like a must-read!
The first woman to translate the Odyssey into English

edutton said:

... THIS looks like a must-read!
The first woman to translate the Odyssey into English

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Thanks. VERY interesting, and should be read by everyone who wants to be a writer. The translator is Emily Wilson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The article highlights how the choice of just one word can turn the readers' experience upside down