Customer Reviews

Six Myths of Our Time: Little Angels, Little Monsters, Beautiful Beasts, and More

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These essays are some of the most interesting essays I've read in years. Warner integrates fairy tales, Greek myths, anthropology, and current cultural objects, events, and pasttimes to take on really interesting issues. Her essay "Boys will be Boys" is a must-read for gender classes; it discusses the lost narratives of masculinity, those that rewarded wit and cunning, and the current trend to show brute force prevailing. Those seeking to understand the Columbine shootings should have looked here first.

While I would've loved to LOVE this book...I just couldn't. Marina Warner has barely scraped the surface of all there is to be said about myth and legend in connection with societal thinking in this little book (originally six essays for BBC radio). Each chapter undertakes a different aspect of society from women, to cannibalism, to our idealization of childhood. In all honesty, each one could've been a book in itself if expanded and pondered over. Due to the fact that each essay was relatively short it felt as if Warner's points were rushed and ill-researched. While I would put this book above some others that connect modern examples with myth, I still think that Warner could've done a more in-depth job and added more focus to individual chapters. They each seem to skip around a bit and lack effective organization.

Don't get me wrong, there are a number of gems in the pages of this work. Warner draws interesting parallels between myth and folklore and how it continues to resurface in modern times whether it be film, writing, television, etc. She also cites numerous outside sources that sound fascinating and that inspired her work. In a way, this work is a jumping-off point into a throng of directions into cultural criticism.

I loved Marina Warner's _Monuments and Maidens: The Allegory of the Female Form_, so when I saw this book, I had to have it. I have to say that I'm a little bit disappointed after _Monuments and Maidens_. I expected a more in-depth study. Instead, these six essays barely seem to scratch the surface of the topics. These essays are basically transcripts of six lectures Warner gave for BBC radio, which explains their brevity, but it's a shame she didn't expand upon them when she decided to publish them in print.

Still, there are some very interesting things here. I would definitely recommend it if you're interested in folklore and are just starting your studies. For the advanced student, the book just leaves you wanting more.

I really love reading Warner's work. Her analyses are sometimes surprising and often brilliant, the writing beautiful. I use this book in teaching Gender Psychology and when I wrote The Secret Lives of Girls (Free Press, 2002).