{"id":620,"date":"2018-10-18T17:03:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-americanlit2\/?post_type=chapter&p=620"},"modified":"2018-10-18T17:03:55","modified_gmt":"2018-10-18T17:03:55","slug":"fifteen-tips-for-reading-myths","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/chapter\/fifteen-tips-for-reading-myths\/","title":{"raw":"Fifteen Tips for Reading Myths","rendered":"Fifteen Tips for Reading Myths"},"content":{"raw":"Reading myth can be difficult and frustrating.\u00a0 Enrich your experience of world myth by using some of the following suggestions.\r\n
    \r\n \t
  1. Take time to make time: account for the frequent gaps in chronology and timeline continuity.\u00a0 Give weight to time, thinking about how myths figure the passage of time.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Try different lenses: Myth often reveals psychological states or changes.\u00a0 Also read the way a scientist would, using hypotheses and tests.\u00a0 Be an anthropologist, studying the structure and function of a story or hero or monster.<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Read as a literary critic, adopting approaches, using literary terms like motivation, conflict, irony.<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Have cognitive complexity, the ability to hold two or more disagreeing points of view at once.<\/li>\r\n \t
  5. Look it up: If a word or name doesn't make sense, find its origin.<\/li>\r\n \t
  6. Read flexibly: As with reading Shakespeare, readings of myth run into dead end words, reordered phrases, and stilted, archaic language.\u00a0 Try and do a running translation of the work as you see it.\u00a0 Boil down long phrases: It may take forty lines to say that a hero was angry.\u00a0 Conversely, it may take six lines to discuss the creation of the world and man!\u00a0 Clearly, dealing with time flexibly is a must for a reader of myth.<\/li>\r\n \t
  7. Cognitive dissonance\u2014Struggle with It!\u00a0 The notion of cognitive dissonance states that we'll attempt to \"gel\" two or more contradictory ideas, reaching a state where we're comfortable.\u00a0 This is often impossible with mythology, so you should try and read against the tendency to explain away contradictions.\u00a0 (This is sort of like attempts to keep metaphors\u2014which are dissonant identifications of two unlike things\u2014in our minds for a while.)<\/li>\r\n \t
  8. Use binaries\/get past binaries: Pairs of choices (binaries) can be useful tools in analysis.\u00a0 We can look at a hero in terms of what they are and are not, just as we can contrast a protagonist with an antagonist.\u00a0 We can contrast Eastern and Western mythological systems.\u00a0 Still, don't get stuck in the either\/or logic of binaries.\u00a0 For example, many heroes go beyond fear and desire, achieving something transcendent of both (i.e., Buddha, Jesus).<\/li>\r\n \t
  9. E.M. Forster, the English novelist, said \"Only connect.\"\u00a0 Making thematic, symbolic or other connections helps.\u00a0 Heroes and myths have many similarities.\u00a0 By marking your book with care, you can draw upon the obvious connections and discover implicit ones.<\/li>\r\n \t
  10. Keep asking \"How does the action reflect psychological awareness and changes in awareness?\"\u00a0 Tie your answers to specific textual details.<\/li>\r\n \t
  11. Reading these myths aloud creates an experience of them that goes beyond reading silently.\u00a0 Reread, too.\u00a0 Adopt a voice as you do this.\u00a0 Take a stance with your tone.<\/li>\r\n \t
  12. Appreciate what's lost in translation.\u00a0 Read names, think of alternate syntax (word order), and focus on alternate verbs that'd do better at conveying the action of what you're reading.<\/li>\r\n \t
  13. Remembering audience and purpose, we know that most myths are limited in usefulness as scientific or even narrative pieces.\u00a0 For example, the labors of Herakles isn't primarily an account of the constellation Sagittarius and its founding.\u00a0 What is it for, then?<\/li>\r\n \t
  14. Figure out what your favorite lenses are: anthropological, psychological\u2014of which there are many, mythological, literary, historical, feminist, Marxist, structuralist, reader response.\u00a0 Usually, you're using at least two of these approaches when you read.<\/li>\r\n \t
  15. Setting and conflict are good lenses for understanding difficult myths.\u00a0 There's almost always an emphasis on how the landscape affects the plot, or how conflict relates to the audience.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","rendered":"

    Reading myth can be difficult and frustrating.\u00a0 Enrich your experience of world myth by using some of the following suggestions.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Take time to make time: account for the frequent gaps in chronology and timeline continuity.\u00a0 Give weight to time, thinking about how myths figure the passage of time.<\/li>\n
    2. Try different lenses: Myth often reveals psychological states or changes.\u00a0 Also read the way a scientist would, using hypotheses and tests.\u00a0 Be an anthropologist, studying the structure and function of a story or hero or monster.<\/li>\n
    3. Read as a literary critic, adopting approaches, using literary terms like motivation, conflict, irony.<\/li>\n
    4. Have cognitive complexity, the ability to hold two or more disagreeing points of view at once.<\/li>\n
    5. Look it up: If a word or name doesn’t make sense, find its origin.<\/li>\n
    6. Read flexibly: As with reading Shakespeare, readings of myth run into dead end words, reordered phrases, and stilted, archaic language.\u00a0 Try and do a running translation of the work as you see it.\u00a0 Boil down long phrases: It may take forty lines to say that a hero was angry.\u00a0 Conversely, it may take six lines to discuss the creation of the world and man!\u00a0 Clearly, dealing with time flexibly is a must for a reader of myth.<\/li>\n
    7. Cognitive dissonance\u2014Struggle with It!\u00a0 The notion of cognitive dissonance states that we’ll attempt to “gel” two or more contradictory ideas, reaching a state where we’re comfortable.\u00a0 This is often impossible with mythology, so you should try and read against the tendency to explain away contradictions.\u00a0 (This is sort of like attempts to keep metaphors\u2014which are dissonant identifications of two unlike things\u2014in our minds for a while.)<\/li>\n
    8. Use binaries\/get past binaries: Pairs of choices (binaries) can be useful tools in analysis.\u00a0 We can look at a hero in terms of what they are and are not, just as we can contrast a protagonist with an antagonist.\u00a0 We can contrast Eastern and Western mythological systems.\u00a0 Still, don’t get stuck in the either\/or logic of binaries.\u00a0 For example, many heroes go beyond fear and desire, achieving something transcendent of both (i.e., Buddha, Jesus).<\/li>\n
    9. E.M. Forster, the English novelist, said “Only connect.”\u00a0 Making thematic, symbolic or other connections helps.\u00a0 Heroes and myths have many similarities.\u00a0 By marking your book with care, you can draw upon the obvious connections and discover implicit ones.<\/li>\n
    10. Keep asking “How does the action reflect psychological awareness and changes in awareness?”\u00a0 Tie your answers to specific textual details.<\/li>\n
    11. Reading these myths aloud creates an experience of them that goes beyond reading silently.\u00a0 Reread, too.\u00a0 Adopt a voice as you do this.\u00a0 Take a stance with your tone.<\/li>\n
    12. Appreciate what’s lost in translation.\u00a0 Read names, think of alternate syntax (word order), and focus on alternate verbs that’d do better at conveying the action of what you’re reading.<\/li>\n
    13. Remembering audience and purpose, we know that most myths are limited in usefulness as scientific or even narrative pieces.\u00a0 For example, the labors of Herakles isn’t primarily an account of the constellation Sagittarius and its founding.\u00a0 What is it for, then?<\/li>\n
    14. Figure out what your favorite lenses are: anthropological, psychological\u2014of which there are many, mythological, literary, historical, feminist, Marxist, structuralist, reader response.\u00a0 Usually, you’re using at least two of these approaches when you read.<\/li>\n
    15. Setting and conflict are good lenses for understanding difficult myths.\u00a0 There’s almost always an emphasis on how the landscape affects the plot, or how conflict relates to the audience.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"author":53936,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-620","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":27,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53936"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":621,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/620\/revisions\/621"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/27"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/620\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=620"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-jeffersoncc-mythology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}