Here are the world's most-loved stories, in a dynamic visual tour de force for today's readers. Each timeless myth is superbly presented in story form and enhanced with original art work by world-renowned artist Giovanni Caselli. Though Bulfinch's has been heralded for more than a century, it has never been published in so beautiful and accessible a format. Evocative four-color illustrations, many full-page, bring to life key events and characters of these universal tales and sagas -- from the Greek and Roman pantheon of gods to the heroes of the Crusades, from the exploits of Robin Hood to the feats of Richard the Lionheart. As enjoyable now as when Bulfinch first assembled them, these selections come from a variety of works -- Ovid's classic Metamorphoses, Egyptian myths, Eastern mythology, and Hindu, Norse, and Celtic sources. Together they form a remarkable tapestry of human endeavor: dreams, illusions, adventures, loves lost and loves found. In this handsome series, they speak to us afresh, across the ages, vivified through Caselli's inspired art. Original footnotes, indexes, and prefaces make this series not only entertaining, but completely authoritative as well.
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From AudioFile
What an Olympian band of narrators! Each one of these superb professionals excels at bringing this stilted Victorian prose to life. A man of his time, Bulfinch glosses over almost any reference to sex in these ancient stories. (Come on, we know what Zeus was really up to with those nymphs!) Nevertheless, there lots of excitement and fun to be gleaned here. And as Bulfinch himself points out in his introduction, if you want to be able to fully understand the references in literature, poetry, or even modern-day editorials, you MUST have a thorough grounding in mythology. Mythology is an iconography, a secret code that unlocks the meaning behind many, many of the symbols and text around us all the time. D.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good infornation to put in your background,
By
This review is from: Bulfinch's Mythology:Gods and Heroes (Audio Cassette)
I'm a foreign student studying in the US. I listened to this audiobook while I was preparing for GRE. I learned many new vocabulary from the audiobook.
Later when I took western philosophy class, I understood what my professor was talking about because I had learned about Greek mythology from this audiobook. I also notice people often use idioms derived from Greek Mythology in their writing or conversation. So it's handy to have such information in your background. Listening to this audiobook is an easy way to obtain such knowledge.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tame but straightforward renditions,
By Althea (Olympic Peninsula, WA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable (v. 1) (Paperback)
This is Volume One of a three part series. This volume consists mainly of Roman and Greek myths, but there are a few brief Hindu, Scandinavian, and Druid stories.
Though this book came out in 1855 it still is one of the best introductions to mythology, and doesn't seem particularly dated. Though short, the myths retain much of the vitality they no doubt had when they flourished within archaic traditions. These are not ribald or gory versions, though. Most are elaborated with small genteel details, thus are more poetic than the drier offerings of Edith Hamilton' s book: MYTHOLOGY. Bulfinch generally gives a short explication after each fable, and often quotes stanzas of verse from such poets as Byron, Tennyson, Pope, Keats and Milton, who have elaborated upon the themes and give extra dimension to myths and/or mythic characters. Bulfinch's versions are more tame and less inventive than those of Robert Graves in his: THE GREEK MYTHS, where accuracy is sometimes sacrificed for the sake of (peculiar) art. While it's interesting to note the differences between versions and to see how the personality of the writer leads to different emphasis or narrative flow, I prefer Bulfinch's more straightforward renditions. It can be vaguely confusing that he uses the Latin names of the gods and goddesses more often than the Greek names: thus his Demeter is Ceres and his Persephone is Proserpina, etc. But the serious student will be familiar with these interchanges, and the casual reader will be able to sort them out with a little effort. There is an index of names in the back for easy reference. The influence of these fables and myths on Western literature was enormous, and we are still culturally and psychologically indebted to them. These gods and goddesses, though endowed with extraordinary powers, were so human in their emotions, actions and ideas that we can't fail to recognize modern situations in their allegorical activities. Myth was the carrier of traditional knowledge, moral injunction, natural and political history, as well as a forum for public opinion. Modern literature has taken on much of the role of ancient mythology, as universal themes have been brought into the personal realm via the novel or short story. But reading is vastly enhanced if we understand the sources of modern characters and the psychological motivations for their behaviors. These myths, though simply written, are still very useful in that regard.
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