"Trickster Makes This World "solidifies Lewis Hyde's reputation as, in Robert Bly's words, "the most subtle, thorough, and brilliant mythologist we...
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Jan 12, 2011
Kirk
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This is the sorta book you always wish you were able to write. It's thick, learned, full of digressions and personal asides, and the dude even translates the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (say it fast, I dare ya) out of Greek himself. I doubt it's for everyone. The pace can be a tad pokey; I recommend reading a chapter at a time and then setting the tome aside for a bit. Also, I suspect some of the personal stories can come off as self-indulgent. And let's face it, Hyde is an academic, though this book
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May 01, 2009
Kerfe
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If Neil Gaiman and Michael Chabon haven't read this book and borrowed concepts liberally, then they are operating in a parallel universe, mining the same sources. It's a rich and deep vein.
Hyde rambles through the many ways Trickster figures influence human thought and action. The idea of the disruptive as necessary, even sacred, to life, has wide distribution. "...the origins, liveliness, and durability of cultures require that there be space for figures whose function is to More...
Hyde rambles through the many ways Trickster figures influence human thought and action. The idea of the disruptive as necessary, even sacred, to life, has wide distribution. "...the origins, liveliness, and durability of cultures require that there be space for figures whose function is to More...
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Nov 05, 2011
Melisa
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An ecclectic and highly erudite mixture of anthropology, mythology and literary theory creates a vision of the world in which those of liminal status living at the edges of acceptable society are recognised as, in fact, essential to the creation of culture and art in all societies: travellers, those who speak several languages, people who belong to many societies and none at the same time. It is an ode to the borders, frontiers, edges of social life, doorways in which humans are free to go a lit
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Dec 16, 2009
Brian
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By far my favorite non-fiction book. The power of the book lies in its ability to explain the enduring presence of trickster myths across a number of different cultures by connecting tricksters with the impulse of artistic creation. By relating tricksters to real-life artists, Hyde demonstrates the relevance of ancient myths to the modern world. The book is elegantly written, compelling, and a pleasure to read. I was awestruck the first time I read it.
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Dec 04, 2011
Steve
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There are some absolute gems in the course of the book, some passages and ideas I read several times over because they were so compelling and offered so much creative potential. But there were also long sections that felt repetitive and disconnected — sometimes because I wasn't familiar with a story being taken for granted as common knowledge among readers, but other times because new directions were suddenly taken without clear transitions or context. The book often felt more like a notebook th
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Apr 17, 2011
Ron
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This book is really in a a category by itself. The author explores the connections among "mischief, myth and art" and... us. Lots to think about as you read it and then you would want to read it again. It is somewhat dry but the ideas presented: how sweeping changes take place in culture, among the gods and how human beings (or trickster: coyote, raven, Hermes, The Monkey King, etc.) create story and thus meaning which then becomes the basis for roles and rules in society enforced by m
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Apr 08, 2011
Heather
rated it:
I've been interested in the trickster figure for years, as a figure that repeatedly seems to appear in the books I read, but always on the margins. This book should be the go to source for anyone interested in the trickster, or even mythology in general. The explorations of appetite and luck, in particular, were very well done.
It does seem more dated than a book written in the late nineties should, for some reason I can't quite pin down. And I wanted a more literary focus- when Hyde More...
It does seem more dated than a book written in the late nineties should, for some reason I can't quite pin down. And I wanted a more literary focus- when Hyde More...
Oct 22, 2009
Justin
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This is a great book on the history of the trickster figure in different mythologies and the cultural role that this particular figures identity plays in our culture both historically and in modernity. Hyde tells a few stories, and in doing so explains societies need for a figure that operates in the crease to trick us out of what we think we know and therefore further expand knowing oursleves. This is a pretty quick read, very well written and topically keeps you heading into the next chapter
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Jan 28, 2010
Steven
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I started this book almost a year ago and kept returning to it in-between other reads, as it is sometimes dense and academic, so I'd read a section and then let myself reflect on it a while before picking it up again. Hyde is a wonderful writer, mixing spot-on interpretations of mythology, personal anecdote and analysis of contemporary artists, such as Marcel Duchamp, Allen Ginsberg and Maxine Hong Kingston, to posit how these transgressive figures work the same way that "trickster" f
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Oct 24, 2009
Jeff
rated it:
I've always had a bit of a thing for tricksters. My favorite Greek myths always seem to involve Hermes, and I love a good coyote tale.
Trickster Makes This World is an excellent study that tries to get to the bottom of what makes trickster figures so fascinating.
It is excellently researched and well constructed. Lewis Hyde takes us through the various aspects of trickster and explores each of these aspects in depth. In each case it is a fascinating, wide-ranging discuss More...
Trickster Makes This World is an excellent study that tries to get to the bottom of what makes trickster figures so fascinating.
It is excellently researched and well constructed. Lewis Hyde takes us through the various aspects of trickster and explores each of these aspects in depth. In each case it is a fascinating, wide-ranging discuss More...
Jan 01, 2011
Michael
rated it:
I reread this book in Spring 2010. This is a very good book as a description of the trickster tales, how tricksters work in ancient myths and legends, and how their particular characteristics can be read in modern and contemporary authors. I was less enthralled by the contemporary discussions, though he does score some points with his discussions of Frederick Douglass. However, Hyde is at his best when discussing the ancient stories and myths, particulary Hermes and Coyote.
Aug 06, 2011
It'd be hard to improve on the praise heaped on Hyde's books by luminaries like Margaret Atwood, Michael Chabon, and David Foster Wallace, so I'll keep this short. One of the most elegant and thought provoking books I've read in a long time. I have no doubt that I'll return to it often. To pigeonhole it as mythology, or anthropology, or philosophy, or literary criticism, or anything else would do the breadth and depth of this book a disservice. Fantastic.
Jul 29, 2011
Marie-Frances
rated it:
I had to read this book for my Communication Ethics class. You need to be really concentrated on the reading because talks about philosophy, with a lot of metaphors. However, it taught me to see the world with my third eye that is my mind. Society often blocks what you really want to see in the world and also set to us tricksters. Tricksters are "tricks" that does not let us see how things really are or we imagine how they are supposed to be.
Super thoughtfulness reading.
Super thoughtfulness reading.
Jun 16, 2011
Ian
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I'm tempted to bring up Isaiah Berlin's old chestnut about hedgehogs and foxes: Hyde is definitely a fox (or perhaps, given the subject matter, a coyote). He approaches the trickster figure common to many cultures (the Greek Hermes, the Norse Loki, the Yoruba Eshu, the American Indian Coyote and Raven, among others) from so many angles - historical, mythological, poetic, scientific - that that it can become a bit much at times, and his occasionally free-form approach to his material can make it
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May 02, 2011
Theresa
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This was a bother to me, the book- the main focus of the book. I wanted to learn about all the major tricksters. What I got was how they are all like Hermes. Hermes. Hermes. Hermes. And how Frederick Douglass was a lot like who? Don't hold your breath- Hermes.
The author did have some really interesting points about Trickster, but they were tiny morsels for a person who wanted to glut.
The author did have some really interesting points about Trickster, but they were tiny morsels for a person who wanted to glut.
Oct 15, 2009
An exhaustive look at the trickster figure in mythology and how it manifests itself in some of the most impressive contemporary artists throughout the world. long winded at times (think grad school thesis verbose) but definately worth the time. He passionately endorses the trickster's mischievous dichotomy in daily life as necessary for our survival.
Jul 08, 2011
Esther
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I'm still chewing over this one. A very worthwhile read, though I found myself far less interested in Hyde's discussion of art and artists than his examination of myth and myth-making itself. (The effort wasn't flawed, and I see the argument he's making, but I think it's not particularly an angle that moves me like the storytelling does.)
May 08, 2010
Ariel
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I picked up this book expecting some fairly academic cross-cultural analysis of the trickster archetype and its role in disrupting/enlivening/confounding culture. What I was not expecting was a very passionate paen to the mercurial trickster mind that is alive and available to all of us in daily life. I think everyone should read this book -- it's fundamentally about the joy of intelligence, chance, art, and their collisions.
Hyde is an occasional poet and there is the drumbeat of a More...
Hyde is an occasional poet and there is the drumbeat of a More...
Jun 17, 2010
Had what I'd call an uncanny experience with this book yesterday. When I pulled it off the shelf in the library I saw that there was a folded up piece of paper stuck in it about 3/4 of the way through. I pulled it out, unfolded it, and saw what was written on it - tee hee edward! No shittin. Had to check it out after that.
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Feb 17, 2009
Andrew
rated it:
artists and writers inevitably find themselves to various degrees described in this amazing piece of work by hyde - aren't we all tricksters on some scale or another. a very instructive book into the development of human creativity and social change..
Apr 11, 2010
Alex
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This book is amazing. Totally changed my view on classical/modern/multi-cultural mythology and the theory of archetypes. Actually, this book pretty much changed my outlook on everything. Long live the trickster, who really does make this world :)
Dec 04, 2010
Kristen
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If you like the work of Campbell and Cousineau you will enjoy Hyde's as well. His comparison of ancient myths from many cultures to the modern world is intriguing and eye-opening. His book is a good mind-stretcher, and I highly recommend it!
Feb 02, 2009
Katherine Parker
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So, I really want to like this book, but I have abandoned it midway through and read two other books in the interim. The pace is really slow. Trickster shouldn't feel bad though - I abandoned the gardening book I am in the middle of too (winter isn't very inspirational for this). I'll get back to both of them.
If you like Joseph Campbell's writing on mythology, you will like this book too. It has the same sense of expansiveness.
Lewis, I confess, I left you, Eshe, Raven, an More...
If you like Joseph Campbell's writing on mythology, you will like this book too. It has the same sense of expansiveness.
Lewis, I confess, I left you, Eshe, Raven, an More...
May 17, 2011
Andrew
rated it:
Overall: Clunky. Watered-down. But with a fair amount of interesting material insofar as it is quoted and paraphrased (as opposed to generated by Mr. Hyde himself).
The text sketches out some luke warm versions of altogether dropdead wonderful myths, each choicecut from around the globe. Legba, Argus, Coyote, etc. But Mr. Hyde is too present in both page count and interpretation for my liking. I want above all else to fantasize and weigh the various implications myself. He is a handho More...
The text sketches out some luke warm versions of altogether dropdead wonderful myths, each choicecut from around the globe. Legba, Argus, Coyote, etc. But Mr. Hyde is too present in both page count and interpretation for my liking. I want above all else to fantasize and weigh the various implications myself. He is a handho More...
Oct 23, 2009
Jeff
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A little too heady for me, but interesting. The thoughts about guilt and shame were worth the work of reading it. Shame=the eyes of your community. Guilt=your heart's eyes.
Feb 13, 2011
Crystal
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Really fascinating stuff. Read the Intro, chapter on prophecy, should have read the appendix on gender. If I were studying for a paper, I'd read more.
But I'm not.
But I'm not.
Sep 13, 2008
Katie
rated it:
Margaret Atwood said it well: ‘Hyde's book is a glorious grab bag stuffed with necessary loot, a joyful plum pudding rich in treasures.’ The thoughtful, well-read, and emotionally astute Lewis Hyde has written an epic/engrossing piece of comparative mythology focusing on the trickster figure. But, more remarkably, what results is a genuine hymn to the unstoppable potential and momentum born from the active human mind; a call to play with the dirt/noise/ambiguity in the world in order to discover
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Feb 21, 2010
Boy Chris
rated it: 
Now I remember why I put this down years ago. Rambling, repetitive, and worst of all internally inconsistent Hyde's focus seemed too narrow and self referential. Luckily the subject does not get led astray easily and he does offer up some insight and intriguing connections but could have used a healthy dose of whimsy and more restraint.
Sep 10, 2011
Matt
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This is a very analytical view of trickster mythology, although I think this is a good thing, because the themes that emerge give a fuller picture of what tricksters are about.
For example, tricksters are obsessed with traps: setting them and escaping them. Just like they're attracted to gates.
There's some application of the trickster mythology to real life people like Frederick Douglass, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Marcel Duchamp (sp?). The real-life figures never seem to match u More...
For example, tricksters are obsessed with traps: setting them and escaping them. Just like they're attracted to gates.
There's some application of the trickster mythology to real life people like Frederick Douglass, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Marcel Duchamp (sp?). The real-life figures never seem to match u More...
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Jun 03, 2010
Keihly
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the history of tricksters - gives much insight into lies and who tells them and why...(which all relates to creativity)
