His mother is a virgin and hes reputed to be the son of a god; he loses favor and is driven from his kingdom to a sorrowful death mdash; sound familiar? In The Hero; Lord Raglan contends that the heroic figures from myth and legend are invested with a common pattern that satisfies the human desire for idealization. Raglan outlines 22 characteristic themes or motifs from the heroic tales and illustrates his theory with events from the lives of characters from Oedipus (21 out of a possible 22 points) to Robin Hood (a modest 13). A fascinating study that relates details from world literature with a lively wit and style; it was acclaimed by literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman as "a bold; speculative; and brilliantly convincing demonstration that myths are never historical but are fictional narratives derived from ritual dramas." This new edition of The Hero (which originally appeared some 13 years before Joseph Campbells The Hero with a Thousand Faces) is assured of a lasting popularity. This book will appeal to scholars of folklore and mythology; history; literature; and general readers as well.
#198716 in eBooks 2013-06-17 2013-05-20File Name: B00DP7UKUU
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. HopperBy foxxThe quality of the illustrations were excellent;however what was infuriating was that some paintings were "split" between two pages making it impossible to view them in their entirety.On the iPad version;the endings of most sentences were missing;another irritant.The prose was generally pedestrian; almost like diary entrants;giving very little insight to the relationship between Hopper and his paintings; and his wife.What information was given could be gleaned from observation of the works themselves;which on there own give worth to this rather disappointing book.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. In the Eye of the BeholderBy Richard C. GeschkeThe prolific author and expert on the life and times of Edward Hopper are well described in this book of Edward Hopper by Gerry Souter. Once again he goes into the depths and desires of a man who was seeking meaning in his works of art. In fact Hopper leads the life of a rather starving artist seeking the raison drsquo;etre of being an artist of standing. Souter goes into depth as to how Hopper develops his oeuvre over a long struggle of being a student of Henri to being a commercial artist to put bread on the table. At the start being a student of Henri in the Ash Can School of Art; Hopper struggled in seeking a niche in the world of art. In fact Hopper traveled to France and in seeing his works one detected the works of an impressionist. Throughout the early 1900rsquo;s Hopperrsquo;s works vacillated between impressionism and realism. As the worm turns; Hopper became the essence of realism. Not the realism of photographic depiction but that of everyday scenes that use light and darkness and shadows to show simplistic scenes which are decluttered. Souter shows how Hopper struggled to get his work recognized by the art world. During this time he was prolific in his depictions of realism which was not immersed in detail. For example on many paintings one sees telephone poles but no presence of wires. His use of light and his observations of depicting scenes of looking from the outside to the inside take an artist impression which no other artist that I know of can convey. Hopper finally gains the recognition and fame he deserves by the 1930rsquo;s as he takes a wife in which Josephine and Edward would begin a stormy marriage in which Hopper conveys is 19th century attitudes in his dominance of Josephine. It was a well-kept secret that Hopper physically abused Josephine. Whatever the circumstances they never divorced and Jo kept a record in his journal of all the paintings and sales thereof. This book goes into great detail as to Hopperrsquo;s great works and what they stood for and how Hopper viewed them in his philosophy of what he considered to be his art. In fact as Souter points out; Hopper took great delight in having art critics analyzing his works as psychological ploys. Hopper was simplistic in his realism which contained minimalism along with the realization that a depiction of art is to be what the viewer realizes in his own mind. This is what Hopper brings as joy to us all. Art is in the eye of the beholder.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. HopperBy Martin PTheres something haunting about Hoppers domestic scenes that begs a revisit; as if well find the missing puzzle piece if only we look hard enough. Its this enigmatic quality of his work that led me to this book; both to have something to allow me to revisit these paintings and to try and get a look behind the curtain; so to speak.Painting-wise the reproductions are fantastic and the book contains a great representation of his entire works. The format is large enough to display his paintings adequately and the layout makes the most of the space on the page. I thought in spite of Hoppers inclination towards privacy (which surely makes the biographical process a lot harder) the text contained enough insight and analysis of his works that its rewarding in itself.All in all I thought the book contained plenty of Hoppers best works (both known and lesser known) and if anything; only heightened my longing to get into the heads of his lonesome subjects. Great book.