MYTHS AND MYTH-MAKERS, Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology

by John Fiske

PREFACE.

IN publishing this somewhat rambling and unsystematic series of papers,
in which I have endeavoured to touch briefly upon a great many of the
most important points in the study of mythology, I think it right to
observe that, in order to avoid confusing the reader with intricate
discussions, I have sometimes cut the matter short, expressing myself
with dogmatic definiteness where a sceptical vagueness might perhaps
have seemed more becoming. In treating of popular legends and
superstitions, the paths of inquiry are circuitous enough, and seldom
can we reach a satisfactory conclusion until we have travelled all the
way around Robin Hood's barn and back again. I am sure that the reader
would not have thanked me for obstructing these crooked lanes with the
thorns and brambles of philological and antiquarian discussion, to such
an extent as perhaps to make him despair of ever reaching the high road.
I have not attempted to review, otherwise than incidentally, the works
of Grimm, Muller, Kuhn, Breal, Dasent, and Tylor; nor can I pretend
to have added anything of consequence, save now and then some bit of
explanatory comment, to the results obtained by the labour of these
scholars; but it has rather been my aim to present these results in such
a way as to awaken general interest in them. And accordingly, in dealing
with a subject which depends upon philology almost as much as astronomy
depends upon mathematics, I have omitted philological considerations
wherever it has been possible to do so. Nevertheless, I believe that
nothing has been advanced as established which is not now generally
admitted by scholars, and that nothing has been advanced as probable for
which due evidence cannot be produced. Yet among many points which are
proved, and many others which are probable, there must always remain
many other facts of which we cannot feel sure that our own explanation
is the true one; and the student who endeavours to fathom the primitive
thoughts of mankind, as enshrined in mythology, will do well to bear in
mind the modest words of Jacob Grimm,--himself the greatest scholar and
thinker who has ever dealt with this class of subjects,--"I shall indeed
interpret all that I can, but I cannot interpret all that I should
like."

PETERSHAM, September 6, 1872.

Genres: Mythology, Nonfiction

213 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

John Fiske was an American philosopher and historian.

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The reason the book does not receive one star is because the author clearly has a wide-ranging knowledge and understanding of world myths and religions. This book was written in 1870, and I am always interested to read pre-Campbell works of comparative mythology. This is a very comprehensive one. However, that it was written in 1870 I suppose meant that the author was completely comfortable describing native cultures, be they African, North or South American, or Aboriginal Australians, as backward and barbaric in their spiritual grasp of the world, clearly lacking the imagination or the intellect to conceive of a pantheon of deities that rivaled the Greeks, Celts or Hindus.
This viewpoint is nothing remarkable coming from your average 1870s shit-shoveller/robber baron, but it is difficult to hear a scholar who seems otherwise to be so insightful and enlightened completely fail to grasp the spiritual complexities inherent in Native American belief systems, and fail to recognize the role of animal life and natural forces as indicative of stronger ties to their environment outside of a preoccupation with human forces, and to write this in a tone that suggests his readers need no convincing, and this viewpoint is already understood and established.
That being said, I still finished reading it. So it must have had something else going for it.

[Boronia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes for an interesting read but must be kept it in context as it was originally first publisher in 1873 & is occasionally totally politically incorrect. Will read it again.

[Cian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elitist and progressively domineering in its total dismissal of the capacities of 'barbaric' and 'primitive' peoples - of their limited imaginations and stagnant cultures - ability of conjuring up anything more complex than unscientific metaphors for their brutish worlds and uncanny natural phenomenon. While he does praise Aryan mythologies, those of the Celt, the Briton, Teuton, Hindi and Greeks to name a few, he often does so in later papers in juxtaposition with the savagery of non-Indo European peoples. Very much a man of his times.

That been said, Fiske's intellect cannot be denied. It must be remembered that he was writing in 1870, a contemporary of Gladstone, and while that does not excuse his too often condescending scholarly tone it doesn't necessarily void most of his hypothesis' - dogmas and bigotry aside his findings were reasonably accurate assessments for the time. In what was an early, pre-Campbell era within the field of comparative mythology, and a time when anthropology itself was governed by the parameters of universal apartheid across the Western dominated world, it would take many more years for more progressive and worldy views to gain popular acceptance of academic peers and the consciousness of (19thc.) individuals limited by their own contextual environments.

Indeed his most crucial mistake is unrelated to bigotry for the most part. It was one shared by his fellow academics too until the investigations of the early twentieth century in the Balkans and Scotland. And that was the willingly ignorance as regards the power of the oral tradition. Especially within the fields of anthropology and comparative mythology as rooted to folk and ancient belief systems, stories and conceptual anthologies. Few in the academic world understood the true eon-defying significance of local oral traditions; many of which were still relatively vibrant in the hinterlands of rural Europe and elsewhere at the time of Fiske's writing, unaware that they had germinated on in some cases for thousands of years tales that survived only by word of mouth and this collective memory.

This blunder aside, along with his vile colonial mannerisms, Fiske is a scholar well worth investing some time in. Especially if you are interested in studying the historical progressions of his related fields. His ability to cross-examine a both motley and closely webbed series of worlds and conceptions of reality and unlogic, of the unreal and the supernatural as molded and regenerated within the traditions of humanity across the ages, is commendable.

[Ross Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good for the first few parts when he's concerning himself with European myths and legends. Then we get to comparative mythologies from around the world, and the pervasive racism of the late 1800s pops up. It cools down a bit for Greek legends, but those get plodding quite quickly. The part on anamism was interesting, if also steeped in more of the 1800s racism.

Not quite 2 stars, but definitely one to talk around more than about.

[Vincent Konrad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some good theory but really detracted from by all the Aryan supremacy and racist pseudoscience. Hard to credit someone who’s explanation for differences in how far removed from their deeper meaning different myths are is that some races are just not smart enough.

[Ahmet Kaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

İnsanlık tarihi boyunca ortaya çıkan çeşitli mitlerin çıkış sebeplerine değinen faydalı bir eser. Eserde bir kaç miti uzun uzun anlatmak yerine yüzlerce mitten kısa kısa bahsedilmiş.

[çiğdem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitap, miti teori üzerinden anlatmak yerine anlatı örnekleriyle ilerleyerek sıkılmadan okunmayı sağlıyor.

[Todd Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this.

Very informative in an all around way and nicely structured.

Highly recommend as an entry to mythological studies.

[Michele Planamento · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dense read. Fascinating but there was so much I didn't know! Lots to look up and had to look up.