Book identifying mythical archetypes?
June 18, 2007 9:24 AM

BookFilter: Looking for a book a friend once found containing every myth, fable, and legend the author could find from multiple cultures, with analysis breaking them down into (I believe) a hundred or so archetypes.

Other information: The book is on the older side, and doesn't appear to be any of the books suggested in this thread.
posted by Andrhia to Writing & Language (14 answers total) 19 users marked this as a favorite
I believe you are talking about Joseph Campbell. He wrote quite a few books discussing archetypes. The book titled "Hero With A Thousand Faces" is one of his more popular works.
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 9:32 AM on June 18, 2007


Sounds like the Golden Bough. I'd, um, recommend the one-volume version rather than the fifteen.
posted by LionIndex at 9:32 AM on June 18, 2007


Was it Sacred Narrative by Alan Dundes or Giants Monsters and Dragons by Carol Rose?
posted by mattbucher at 9:33 AM on June 18, 2007


Sorry, didn't check your link. Looks like my suggestion was already mentioned.
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 9:33 AM on June 18, 2007


Could it be The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology?
posted by iconomy at 9:33 AM on June 18, 2007


It is called The Morphology of the Folk Tale, by Vladimir Propp. Here is a summary of his approach. Here is an excerpt.
posted by nasreddin at 9:34 AM on June 18, 2007


Was it perhaps Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough?
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:34 AM on June 18, 2007


Following up on what nasreddin said, it could also be Aarne-Thompson motif analysis. This site uses the Aarne-Thomspson classification.
posted by MsMolly at 9:55 AM on June 18, 2007


My bet's on the Golden Bough, as mentioned above, but it's just possible you might be thinking of the Larousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology.
posted by Hogshead at 9:55 AM on June 18, 2007


It was along the lines of Vladimir Propp's Morphology of the Folk Tale, but that's not precisely it...
posted by Andrhia at 9:57 AM on June 18, 2007


Perhaps it could be one of the works by Mircea Eliade?
posted by cgs06 at 9:57 AM on June 18, 2007


Bingo, MsMolly has it with Aarne-Thompson. Thanks so much, everybody!
posted by Andrhia at 9:59 AM on June 18, 2007


Is it Mythologiques by anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss?
posted by Herr Fahrstuhl at 10:02 AM on June 18, 2007


Casaubon's Key to all Mythologies?
posted by shothotbot at 10:47 AM on June 18, 2007


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