Links and Resources

Everyday, Literary, and Deep Myths: Understanding the Three Faces of Myth

Myths, as stories and beliefs, play a significant role in our lives, and they come in various forms.

1. Everyday Myths:

These are the common and recognizable beliefs that influence our daily choices. While they may lack the fantastical elements of literary myths, they wield significant influence over our actions. Examples of everyday myths include the misconceptions that procrastination will help you do your best work, that eating sugar makes you hyperactive, that cracking your knuckles will give you arthritis, that you can catch a cold from being cold, and that listening to classical music makes you smarter.

2. Literary Myths:

These are the traditional narratives filled with gods, heroes, and magical elements. They have captivated human imaginations for centuries and continue to do so. Examples of literary myths encompass renowned narratives like the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible, the Greek myth of Pandora's box, the Japanese myth of the three sacred treasures, the Native American myth of Coyote, and the enduring tales of the Arthurian legends.

3. Deep Myths:

Examples of deep myths include influential beliefs like American exceptionalism, the idea that the United States holds a unique and superior role in the world, the disturbing notion of Nazi Aryan superiority, which propagated a false and harmful racial hierarchy, the enduring myth of the "self-made man" suggesting that individual success is solely determined by personal effort, the pervasive belief in meritocracy, where success is thought to be purely based on one's merits, often overlooking systemic advantages or disadvantages, the concept of manifest destiny, the belief that expansion and dominance were inevitable and divinely ordained in the growth of the United States, and the myth of nationalism, which often portrays one's own nation as inherently superior to others, contributing to conflicts and ethnocentrism on a global scale. These deep myths underlie and shape societal values and worldviews in significant ways.

• Philosophy and myth ABC RadioNational (Australia) podcast; Tae-Yeoun Keum, Plato and the Mythic Tradition in Political Thought - Amazon preview of book
• LRB Great Replacement Theory
• The Radical Imagination in Reactionary Times
• Memory Wars Podcast
• How did Joseph Goebbels's use of propaganda and terror aid Adolf Hitler's campaign for chancellor?
• Roots of Nazi Ideology
• The Myth Of American Exceptionalism
• American Exceptionalism as Part of Myth America
• Tocqueville (discussed on BBC’s “In our Team”)
• Myth-Religion-Fascism… The Recipe for Right-Wing Politics
• How Nations Make Up National Identities | NYT - The Interpreter
• • Keynote Lecture by Diana Mishkova - Part 1
  • Keynote Lecture by Diana Mishkova - Part 2
  • Keynote Lecture by Diana Mishkova - Part 3

  These videos are parts 1 to 3 of a keynote lecture by Diana Mishkova titled “The Perenniality of Myth-making and Myth-breaking,” presented at the "Myth-Making and Myth-Breaking in History and the Humanities" International Conference at the University of Bucharest on 7-8 October 2011. The lecture delves into the continuous process of creating and debunking myths in the realms of history and humanities.

⊕.