영어로 읽는 고전 _ 앤드류 랭의 관습과 신화
"Custom and Myth"는 19세기 후반에 쓰여진 비교 신화학과 민속학을 탐구하는 Andrew Lang의 에세이 모음집입니다. 이 작품은 특히 언어학적 분석에 근거한 신화를 이해하는 전통적인 방법들을 비판적으로 검토하며, 이러한 접근방식들이 종종 부적절하다고 주장합니다. Lang은 그리스, 인도, 그리고 토착 전통을 포함한 다양한 신화들을 깊이 파고들어, 많은 이야기들이 단순한 언어의 산물이 아닌 인간의 경험에 의해 형성된 공통된 기원과 주제를 공유한다고 제안합니다.
책의 시작 부분에서 Lang은 이 모음집을 E.B. 타일러에게 헌정하고, 신화를 비교하는 당시 학문적 방법들에 대한 불만족을 언급하며 에세이들을 쓰게 된 동기를 설명합니다. 그는 신화가 순전히 언어의 변질에서 비롯된다는 생각을 비판하고, 더 깊은 의미를 발견하기 위해 민속과 미개한 믿음들을 검토하는 것의 중요성을 논합니다.
Lang은 인류학적 관점을 소개하며, 신화가 문화를 초월하여 지속되는 현상을 연구함으로써 더 잘 이해될 수 있다고 제안하고, 인류의 원초적 본능과 공유된 경험들과의 연관성을 강조합니다. 이러한 도입부는 신화와 문화적 표현의 복잡성을 탐구하게 될 후속 에세이들의 무대를 마련합니다.
Classics Read in English _ Custom and Myth by Andrew Lang
"Custom and Myth" by Andrew Lang is a collection of essays exploring comparative mythology and folklore, written in the late 19th century. The work critically examines the conventional methods of understanding myths, particularly those rooted in linguistic analysis, arguing that such approaches are often inadequate. Lang delves into various mythologies?including Greek, Indian, and indigenous traditions?to propose that many stories share common origins and themes, shaped by the human experience rather than being mere products of language. At the start of the book, Lang dedicates his collection to E.B. Tylor and outlines his motivation for the essays, noting his dissatisfaction with the prevalent scholarly methods of comparing myths. He critiques the idea that myths arise purely from corruptions of language and discusses the importance of examining folklore and savage beliefs to uncover deeper meanings. Lang introduces the anthropological perspective, suggesting that myths can be better understood by studying their persistence across cultures, highlighting their ties to humanity’s primal instincts and shared experiences. The opening sets the stage for the subsequent essays, which promise a journey through the intricacies of myth and cultural expression.
Among the contents
After the heavy rain of a thunderstorm has washed the soil, it sometimes happens that a child, or a rustic, finds a wedge-shaped piece of metal or a few triangular flints in a field or near a road. There was no such piece of metal, there were no such flints, lying there yesterday, and the finder is puzzled about the origin of the objects on which he has lighted. He carries them home, and the village wisdom determines that the wedge-shaped piece of metal is a ‘thunderbolt,’ or that the bits of flint are ‘elf-shots,’ the heads of fairy arrows. Such things are still treasured in remote nooks of England, and the ‘thunderbolt’ is applied to cure certain maladies by its touch.
As for the fairy arrows, we know that even in ancient Etruria they were looked on as magical, for we sometimes see their points set, as amulets, in the gold of Etruscan necklaces. In Perugia the arrowheads are still sold as charms. All educated people, of course, have long been aware that the metal wedge is a celt, or ancient bronze axe-head, and that it was not fairies, but the forgotten peoples of this island who used the arrows with the tips of flint.
