ENGLISH

Politics of Myth: A Study of C. G. Jung, Mircea Eliade, and Joseph Campbell

By Robert S. Ellwood

Book information

Publisher
State University of New York Press
Year
1999
ISBN
0791443051, 9780791443057
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1003 kB (1027413 bytes)
Series
SUNY Series, Issues in the Study of Religion
Pages
207\217
Topic
Religion
Scanned
no
Time added
2014-11-06 21:18:28
Религиоведение;Основы религиоведения

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.

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