The Mythological Frontier as a Key to Understanding the Other: A Review of the “Myths from A to Z” Book Series

Abstract

The authors employ the concept of the “mythological frontier” for analyzing the mythology of small communities, acknowledging that geographic and linguistic borders often do not coincide with mythological boundaries. Using philosophical anthropology, the mythological frontier helps to define the limits of the Other, enabling engagement with myth and the mythological from the periphery of contemporary consciousness.

This paper aims to critically assess the “Myths from A to Z” series published by Mann, Ivanov, Ferber. This series covers a wide range of mythologies, including Scandinavian, Egyptian, Celtic, Indian, Greco-Roman, Sumerian, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Slavic, Volga, and Karelian-Finnish. Myths are crucial for understanding the environment and drawing upon our cultural legacy, playing a significant role in helping individuals find meaning in the world and establish shared cultural and personal identities.

The authors adopt various approaches to analyze the mythology of specific communities, focusing on the relationships between myth and culture, myth and fairy tale, or myth and epic. They also attempt to reconstruct comprehensive mythological systems or the historical pasts of the communities under study. A common theme across most books in the series is the self-construction and understanding of the Other (a different culture) through the “mythological frontier”, although this is not always explicitly stated.