World Mythology: An Anthology of Great Myths and Epics [Paperback]

Donna Rosenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 12, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0844259667 | ISBN-13: 978-0844259666 | Edition: 3

World Mythology is a compilation of over 50 great myths and epics. Your students will gain an appreciation and understanding of ancient and modern cultures through myths and epics from the Middle East, Greece and Rome, the Far East and Pacific islands, the British Isles, Northern Europe, Africa, and the Americas. An introduction and historical background supplement each myth. Questions at the end of each selection prompt analysis and response.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 3 edition (February 12, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844259667
• ISBN-13: 978-0844259666
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

74 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Flawed Myth, September 9, 2003

By 

Halloween Jack "wytch_knight" (Houston, Tx United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Mythology: An Anthology of Great Myths and Epics (Paperback)

First off, for a paperback this book is extremely overpriced. Why did I get it? I was required to purchase it for a college mythology course. I was hoping it would be a great source of world myth, but I was quickly disappointed. Rosenberg waters down and CENSORS the mythology.
For example: In the story of Osiris and Isis, Rosenberg's version said that all of Osiris' parts were recovered. This is not true to the myth as any casual mythology student can tell you. A fish ate one part that was never recovered. Another omission was from Gilgamesh when Enkidu is tamed. Rosenberg leaves out the fact that the "priestess"was actually a temple harlot and she tamed him through six days of sex. These are only the first two stories I have read and I am sure there will be more the further I get into it. It is almost as if Rosenberg is afraid to tackle the adult issues presented in a lot of mythology.
Now normally I would not have a problem with leaving a little out here or there. But when students are required to fully analyze the meaning of a myth or epic we need the whole story. For the price and lack of cartoony illustrations this book is obviously not aimed at children. Give us the unedited, un-PC, correct, original versions of the myths.I don't want to assume things that should be in the stories to begin with.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, July 22, 2004

By 

Zeveck - See all my reviews

This review is from: World Mythology : An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics (Hardcover)

I think a number of the other reviews missed the point in this volume. This book offers an amazingly diverse sampling of the world's mythologies, preceding each myth with an introduction that attempts to provide some cultural context. These are NOT the original myths, as people have noted, but that is done intentionally. Had each of these stories been included in its original form the result would have been a cyclopean tome that likely would have to be broken into numerous volumes. But why do that? There are already countless disparate sources available for one to find the original stories -- this book offers more of a "world mythology digest" that tries to hit on the key themes and events of each story it relates, and does a decent enough job doing so.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A passable reference work, a disappointing introduction to mythology, January 12, 2009

By 

J. B. Shoup (Austin, Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World Mythology (Paperback)

I was given this text for a high school class I taught on ancient civilizations. My initial excitement at the summaries and character lists preceding the myths, and the inclusion of great Yoruban and Hittite myths, disappeared once I read the texts. As others have noted, the author censors the myths greatly, removing any hint of sexuality. There is also little attempt to inject color into the narratives. The result are stories unnervingly different than the original, and one fears that many students will think that the Osiris or Aeneas or Telepinu of this book represents the true account.

The Aeneid presentation is toothless and unengaging, a dry outline of segments of Virgil's great epic. Likewise, his predecessor Homer is reborn as what often reads like online encyclopedia summaries.

Rosenberg misses the depth and vibrancy of these great tales, writing in the same voice for each tale. The myths thus start to run together, not because of the shared human condition that informed each, but because of unimaginative presentation.

Reviewers who claim this will supplant Edith Hamilton are perhaps exactly who it was written for - those who do not understand the context of these myths and assume they can be paraphrased simply. Rosenberg does not strike one as a student of world mythology, but someone with an agenda who rushed through various tales.

I would not recommend this book for an educator. No translation has the same substance as the original, of course, but many paraphrases and translations on the market manage to communicate the wit and wonder of ancient thought. Beyond that, her introduction oddly asserts controversial theses as proven fact, and her arrangement is confusing - why does a book attempting to introduce world mythology start with the Greeks instead of their predecessors in the Near East?

For Greco-Roman mythology, Bullfinch and Hamilton still remain Rosenberg's superiors. The time will come for a book that attempts to bring all these myths together in accessible prose paraphrases, but it has not yet come.

If you do use this book, please find alternate translations or paraphrases to allow the students to use Rosenberg only as a companion to a more rigorous and more rewarding translation.

Note that I am fine that Rosenberg did not attempt Dryden's meter, and that my desire isn't for something more difficult. Rather, I'd like something more faithful, one that does not underestimate the ability of her readers.