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Theorizing Myth: Narrative, Ideology, and Scholarship
In Theorizing Myth, Bruce Lincoln traces the way scholars and others have used the category of "myth" to fetishize or deride certain kinds of stories, usually those told by others.
He begins by showing that mythos yielded to logos not as part of a (mythic) "Greek miracle," but as part of struggles over political, linguistic, and epistemological authority occasioned by expanded use of writing and the practice of Athenian democracy. Lincoln then turns his attention to the period when myth was recuperated as a privileged type of narrative, a process he locates in the political and cultural ferment of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Here, he connects renewed enthusiasm for myth to the nexus of Romanticism, nationalism, and Aryan triumphalism, particularly the quest for a language and set of stories on which nation-states could be founded.
In the final section of this wide-ranging book, Lincoln advocates a fresh approach to the study of myth, providing varied case studies to support his view of myth—and scholarship on myth—as ideology in narrative form.
He begins by showing that mythos yielded to logos not as part of a (mythic) "Greek miracle," but as part of struggles over political, linguistic, and epistemological authority occasioned by expanded use of writing and the practice of Athenian democracy. Lincoln then turns his attention to the period when myth was recuperated as a privileged type of narrative, a process he locates in the political and cultural ferment of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Here, he connects renewed enthusiasm for myth to the nexus of Romanticism, nationalism, and Aryan triumphalism, particularly the quest for a language and set of stories on which nation-states could be founded.
In the final section of this wide-ranging book, Lincoln advocates a fresh approach to the study of myth, providing varied case studies to support his view of myth—and scholarship on myth—as ideology in narrative form.
313 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 12, 2022
read for school.
September 16, 2009
Thought it was a great way to look at myth as "ideology in narrative form". I particularly loved the sections dealing with the Greek transition from the valuation of Mythos to Logos going in to the revival of myth as a means of distancing society from the "Jewish/Catholic" lens.
My biggest qualm is that the epilogue was thoroughly thought-provoking, but in it, Lincoln was trying to approach a big issue: how does logos- laden scholarship differ from mythology, particularly given that both, in their own way, try to create a narrative that supports a certain ideology? Therefore, while Lincoln certainly previously warned the reader that it's going to be a very condensed issue, I truly believe that he could have given a few more chapters to an issue which is very prevalent in the academic community as opposed to the later chapters which demonstrate his method of comparative mythology. While I enjoyed reading those chapters and dealing with those particular myths, in retrospect I think the pages could have been put to better use.
My biggest qualm is that the epilogue was thoroughly thought-provoking, but in it, Lincoln was trying to approach a big issue: how does logos- laden scholarship differ from mythology, particularly given that both, in their own way, try to create a narrative that supports a certain ideology? Therefore, while Lincoln certainly previously warned the reader that it's going to be a very condensed issue, I truly believe that he could have given a few more chapters to an issue which is very prevalent in the academic community as opposed to the later chapters which demonstrate his method of comparative mythology. While I enjoyed reading those chapters and dealing with those particular myths, in retrospect I think the pages could have been put to better use.
April 11, 2011
This book is valuable largely because it demonstrates, with ample bibliography, the connection between the political and philological commitments of men like Eliade and Dumézil. The idea that men of this caliber -- and I include Heidegger, Werner Jaeger, and hundreds or thousands of others -- that men of this intellectual caliber did not understand the political implications of their philosophies, or the philosophical suppositions of their politics -- is a claim as grotesque as it is implausible.
Otherwise - the book is of only moderate interest.
{{I don't know if I will ever read this, but I should look at it, as it has chapters on the fascist backgrounds of both Dumezil and Eliade. I don't know whether or not Lincoln's approach is methodologically sound enough or theory-free enough to fork over the money for it... I'll have to poke around on that...}}
Otherwise - the book is of only moderate interest.
{{I don't know if I will ever read this, but I should look at it, as it has chapters on the fascist backgrounds of both Dumezil and Eliade. I don't know whether or not Lincoln's approach is methodologically sound enough or theory-free enough to fork over the money for it... I'll have to poke around on that...}}
February 18, 2018
I found this disappointing, and I’m also not especially sure why we’re reading it for this class. I was excited by Lincoln’s overarching argument, that myth is narrative ideology, but he does far less theorizing than the title would suggest, and his extensive close reading is certainly interesting, but not especially useful for me. Most disappointing, however, is where he lands on the relationship between scholarship and ideology/myth: I think his own book counters the position he explicitly lays out in the epilogue.
February 5, 2023
This is not a comprehensive theoretical overview of myth theory, but is a series of chapters oriented toward more specific propositions such as myth as ideology in narrative form, myth as an expression of power, how myth evolves according to the evolution of society and political power and intellectual influence, etc.. It is truly excellent insofar as it goes. Much of the book is devoted to a deep examination of the evolution of German national myth, which also was excellent. But for a more general survey of theories of myth, the reader has to look elsewhere.
September 2, 2016
In Theorizing Myth, Lincoln states that his intention is not to argue for a conclusive definition of “myth”—and, by declining to do so, he sets himself apart from a long tradition of post-Renaissance European and American scholarship in which his predecessors not only employed particular understandings of “myth” but actively employed their ideas about myth to justify their (often condescending) assessments of human groups and cultures and advance ideologies that privileged the groups and cultures they considered superior. Rather, Lincoln’s goal is to trace the genealogy of the “word, concept, and category” of myth with the intention of not only demonstrating why scholars should bring a critical lens to the “stories others have told about others’ stories,” but also to the discipline of scholarship itself (ix).
Important quotes:
- “I hope to show that things are not so simple and the problems—moral and intellectual—that attend this discourse and discipline are not so easily resolved.”
- "Scholarship is myth with footnotes."
Important quotes:
- “I hope to show that things are not so simple and the problems—moral and intellectual—that attend this discourse and discipline are not so easily resolved.”
- "Scholarship is myth with footnotes."
March 12, 2008
A VERY hard read, but very much worth it. Really sheds light on the origins of organized religion.
May 20, 2017
Just plain brilliant.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews