Great Course - Myth in Human History

I have just finished another Great Course.  This one was called Myth in Human History and was taught by Dr. Grant L. Voth from Purdue University (an alma mater of mine.)


My interest in mythology started in grade school, of course, when "myths" weren't much more than tall tales with heroes in sandals and togas -- because that was the sanitized version suitable for children.  I did listen to a Great Course on Classical Mythology, so I wondered if I would be duplicating with this course.  Fortunately, I was not.  In fact, I took the courses in exactly the right order.  Oh, there were some few references to Greek myths in this later course, but they were touch points, so I benefited from having taken the prior course. 

I was able to hear myths from all over the world -- Ancient Babylon, China, Africa, Tibet, Native American, Vietnamese -- the list was long.  I was also treated to a mythographer's view of some of the stories in the Judeo-Christian faith, which had been one of the reasons for me to listen to this course.

The similarities of myths across time and place are truly amazing.  And while I think I am neither Freudian nor Jungian in how I view myth, these courses together with my reading of The Writer's Journey by Vogler, have convinced me that there is something in our makeup -- our human make up -- which connect with certain stories in ways which resonate with us at a basic level. 

Probably the most interesting unit in this Great Course was the one on "Tricksters" in myth.  Dr. Voth convinced me that, though we find many of the trickster's actions immoral, even disgusting, there is a very important role for him in our development.  A society which successfully excludes all which is distasteful will stagnate.  We need to deal with things on the edge, things we think we don't want, and the result of the interaction will be creative, adaptive, healthy in the macro sense.  I had never heard about Tricksters in the mythological sense, and had certainly never been exposed to the sexual and scatalogical stories in which they are featured.  As an adult, though, I can appreciate the stories, even if I would never tell them to my kids.

Once again, The Teaching Company comes through.  Oh, Dr. Voth might not have been quite as natural a speaker as many of the others I have heard, but he was personable and loves his topic.  This is certainly a worthy course.