Great Books
THE GREEK MYTHS
The
Greek Myths by Robert
Graves retrieved ancient Greek mythology from the dustbin of children's stories and restored
them to their rightful place as the guiding light of most or all of Western literature that
matters. Author of the I,
Claudius historical series and The
White Goddess, where he explores "the psychological and mythological sources of poetry", Mr.
Graves personally believed that that's where it all went wrong, when we went rational starting with
Socrates. Better to
stay in the pre-rational, the pre-Classical, if
you want to be a pure artist or writer; or if you simply want a vibrant understanding of your
existence. His writing is so poetic in The
Greek Myths that at least one writer has made a poem of his description of the lives of Dionysus,
Orpheus, and Orion, The
Madness of Heracles (not to mention a couple of his other discussions on myth).
|
|
