World Mythology course

[kratsayra]

I will be teaching an introductory college course on World Mythology in the fall.

First of all, a general question - what would you put on your syllabus if you were teaching a course on world myth? Or, if you've taught a course, what are some particularly good things from your past syllabi.

Secondly, a more specific question - what do you think of using the novel of Toni Morrison's [Beloved in conjunction with Medea? A past instructor used the film of Beloved but suggested I might want to use the novel instead. I haven't read it, though, so I'm unsure.

Any other good contemporary novels (American, or otherwise) that clearly connect to mythological themes or texts? (but not James Joyce's Ulysses because there's just not enough room in the course and it's a bit challenging I think for an intro course)

[Niamh]

do a broad course and split it up, like a semester of european mythologies etc and sub ctagraising them ie. celtic, norse, roman greek etc.
a good book based on a true story, The Burning Of Brigit Cleary by Angela Byrne, focuses on how beliefs in legends and superstitions can have terrible consicuences. I studied it for my Folklore classes in college.

[mhamley]

I'm about to start teaching a course on World Mythology to 9th graders, and while I'm still figuring out what to teach, I read Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad this summer. It would be an interesting college-level book to pair with The Odyssey as it retells the story from Penelope's point of view.

[Niamh]

A good book for celtic mythology would be The Tain (An Tain Bo Cuilge)

[Scheherazade]

We studied this book at university, which I really enjoyed.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446607258/qid=1106240274/sr=2-2/ref=pd_ka_b_2_2/002-9763524-8745611

[kratsayra]

thanks for the suggestions . . . there is a textbook that I'm supposed to use a lot of, so I did that. And then I threw in some things people had used in past years. And then I added some African things, because that is what I am most familiar with.

now I'm trying to figure what kind of combinations of tests/quizzes/papers/assignments to give them . . . eeks!

[protagonist]

I wanna share a mithologic story which I like so much.
>>>Eurydice and Orpheus were young and in love. So deep was their love that they were practically inseparable. So dependent was their love that each felt they could not live without the other. These young lovers were very happy and spent their time frolicking through the meadows. One day Eurdice was gaily running through a meadow with Orpheus when she was bitten by a serpent. The poison of the sting killed her and she descended to Hades immediately.
Orpheus was son of the great Olympian god Apollo. In many ways Apollo was the god of music and Orpheus was blessed with musical talents. Orpheus was so sad about the loss of his love that he composed music to express the terrible emptiness which pervaded his every breath and movement. He was so desperate and found so little else meaningful, that he decided address Hades. As the overseer of the underworld, Hades heart had to be hard as steel, and so it was. Many approached Hades to beg for loved ones back and as many times were refused. But Orpheus' music was so sweet and so moving that it softened the steel hearted heart of Hades himself. Hades gave permission to Orpheus to bring Eurydice back to the surface of the earth to enjoy the light of day. There was only one condition--Orpheus was not to look back as he ascended. He was to trust that Eurydice was immediately behind him. It was a long way back up and just as Orpheus had almost finished that last part of the trek, he looked behind him to make sure Eurydice was still with him. At that very moment, she was snatched back because he did not trust that she was there.Thenhe had lost his true love forever. When you hear music which mourns lost love, it is Orpheus' spirit who guides the hand of the musicians who play it.

[BFrank]

Just off the top of my head, I would suggest Ovid's Metamorphosis, a Roman epic poem containing many different myths. It breaks up easily into sections.

I'm currently reading Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces. If you aren't familiar with Campbell, he has written many books on myths around the world. This book examines the hero's journey in myths and creation stories through the symbols of psychoanalysis, especially dram analysis. This is just one way that you can arrange the course. In 1988 Bill Moyers interviewed him for a television program called The Power of Myth which introduced a whole group of people to his ideas who normally wouldn't have been exposed to him. these interviews might be of use to you as well.

Hope this helps.