It occurred
to me that it would be good to give my readers a brief overview of the books I
use as sources of myths. In general, I look for books that emphasize the text
of the myths over author commentary. I find that author commentary often gets
in the way of my own interpretation of the myth. I want a clean slate to look
it over and make up my own mind.
I tend to favor books that offer up
translation notes, explaining the different possible meanings of particular
phrases, and why the author elected on a particular translation over another. I
find it fascinating to consider the different possibilities that other word
choices can evoke.
While I don’t want author
commentary and interpretations throughout the myths, I do like some essays
regarding the culture of origin or the time period of the myths. The extra
context provokes a line of interpretational thought without tainting the myth itself.
Single culture anthologies are
great, and usually fairly comprehensive. They frequently have a wide selection
of complete myths that connect with one another along cultural themes. Multi-culture anthologies are hit or miss.
The ones that don’t have author commentary and interpretation will frequently
abridge their myths, which can change the context of the myth dramatically.
I avoid textbooks like the plague.
In addition to blatant author commentary every step of the way, they abridge
myths, create vocabulary lists, and only offer up easy questions of fact
instead of complex questions of culture and explanation. All of the (supposed)
student material leads to bloat in both page count and price. I assign four
books for my mythology classes, which total ~$70 brand new (about half that if
they use their own Bible) while my peers frequently use a single textbook
ranging from $70-$150 that have far fewer and less complete myths.