Chinese Myths (British Museum--Legendary Past Series) [Paperback]

Anne Birrell (Author)

Book Description

Series: Legendary Past | Publication Date: September 15, 2000

Chinese myths were primarily a diffuse and fragmentary oral tradition, eventually preserved in writing only in a piecemeal fashion. Many classical texts are unavailable in translation, and the stories have been unknown to Western readers. Anne Birrell here introduces the general reader to a selection of narratives organized by themes and motifs that help set Chinese myths in the context of world mythology. The contents include: o Origin and creation myths o Myths of the flood o The divine cosmos o Gender in myth o Metamorphoses o Mythic heroes and heroines o Fabled plants and animals o Major sources of myth

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: University of Texas Press; 1 edition (September 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0292708793
• ISBN-13: 978-0292708792
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,305,656 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is NOT an introduction to Chinese mythological literature, July 23, 2007

By 

Scott G "scottg13" (Oregon City, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Myths (British Museum--Legendary Past Series) (Paperback)

Which I was expecting. If you are looking for something along the lines of the "poetic edda", "the tain" or "metamorphosis" then look elsewhere.

This effort, at best, is a textbook presentation of chinese mythology lumped by subject matter. At worst, imagine someone taking a heavily annotated version of Ovid's "metamorpohsis", rearranging the text by topic, excising all extraneous text other than what specifically represents the topic, and then printing the annotations with this remainder tagged at the end of chapter. This is essentiall what you get. For each "subject" listed in the editioral review Anne Birrel gives us 2 to 5 pages of her analysis and interpretation of the text sources as well as comparisions to other mythological systems and then we get 2-4 paragraphs of the original text.

It is commented in the introduction that Chinese mythology is hampered by the source material being fragementary, but this presentation's limited text of the source material is so sterile, so minimal that one has to wonder why any attempt to include the original material was made.

If you are looking for an introduction and comparative analysis of Chinese Mythology as it relates to other better known western mythologies then this is an interesting book. If you are looking for an introduction to the literature that preserves Chinese mythology, fragmentary though it may be --- there has to be a better selection somewhere.

0 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Transaction, February 12, 2007

By 

Gwendolyn Brooks "buffy5551" (West Lafayette, IN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chinese Myths (British Museum--Legendary Past Series) (Paperback)

This was a good transaction. Delivery was slow, but not terrible. Thanks a lot!