Mythology Chapter One

I enjoyed this chapter because it set up a framework to understand how Mythology has been studied in the past, and how it all leads to the way it is studied today. The writers give a wonderfully detailed account of the positive influences these early schools of thought had, and the terrible fallacies they brought about. It was interesting learning about how Hitler was able to take advantage of the nationalism that was sparked in Europe during the 19th century, due to the comparative school's Eurocentric outlook on cultures and myths. I think they are saying that a responsible scholar takes into account the comparative view, but also is involved in field work and can use the knowledge that has been gained in psychology, anthropology and other view points, since the study of mythology has become popularized in the modern age. Leonard and McClure respect the cultures that the myths are culled from, they don't seem to denigrate them as primitive, or misunderstood science. Probably my favorite part of this chapter was the discussion about how myths are living. They are oral traditions that are passed down for generations before being written down. Contemporary mythologists seem to focus on all aspects of the myth, the story itself, who told it, where and how it was told, cultural and historical and psychological understandings of it, and the significance the myth has to the people it comes from, and to the people reading and studying it. I feel like I can trust the information in the rest of the book to not put Western principles first and view the myths as inferior because they may belong to the other.