The Timeless Myths: How Ancient Legends Influence the World Around Us - Hardcover

Alexander Eliot is the recently appointed editor of Parabola: The Magazine of Myth and Tradition.

In Universal Myths (1989), Global Myths (1993), and now, Timeless Myths, mythologist and art historian Eliot elucidates the roles myths play in our cultures and psyches. In his latest fluent and imaginative foray into the world of myth, fairy tale, and art, Eliot explains his theory of the "mythosphere," his term for the realm our thoughts, imaginings, and dreams occupy. Eliot emulates the pervasiveness and fluidity of the "mythosphere" in his beautifully written, seemingly free-associative narrative, which meanders, in one section, from Dionysus to Pythagoras, a brief history of ancient medicine, and the story of Ireland's St. Patrick. Later he talks about Montaigne, Picasso, Whistler, and Hopper. Along the way, we get caught up in all the myths and fairy tales Eliot tells so well, then realize that he's also offering philosophical advice for living a balanced life. Eliot makes many valid and stimulating points while he entertains, enlightens, and performs feats of unexpected comparison. All good fun, but the lack of in-depth analysis or thorough documentation of sources makes this an impressionistic narrative, sort of the cream on top of more scholarly mythology. Donna Seaman