Frederic Giacobazzi

1. How did you become interested in this discipline?

The real beginning of anyone's interest in mythology probably starts with an interest in myths themselves, which, after all, are stories--good, interesting stories which seem somehow to be thrown into higher relief because they are myths. Like most, I first encountered some of these stories when I was a child--tales from Greek mythology derived from hero epics like the Argonautica or Homer's Odyssey, and also stories from Norse materials and the Arthurian legends. I remember, too, that my interest in astronomy as a child made me want to know something about the mythic background of the constellations and the planets. It was on this "story" level that my familiarity with myths continued through childhood.

My interest in mythology proper, that is, in studying and understanding the underlying significance of myth, had to wait until later, until my undergraduate and graduate college years, and until my interest in literature, anthropology, archaeology gradually made me want to investigate myth further. I remember as an important turning point my encountering some of what Northrop Frye had to say about myth as an approach to literary criticism. This began to fundamentally alter my understanding of literature. Then I read Frazer's The Golden Bough, which led me back to writers like Bachofen, and forward to Jung, Robert Graves, Eliade, and, of course, Joseph Campbell. Graves' The White Goddess-- a rich and overwhelming book--had a profound effect on me. In graduate school, even though I was very busy with my regular studies, I continued to read mythology steadily just for the way it kept my mind fertile and receptive, and for the sheer pleasure of widening my understanding. For me, mythology has been one of those formative encounters, one of the disciplines that has fundamentally shaped the way I look at nearly everything--literature, movies, life.

2. What is this discipline all about?

Put simply, mythology is the study of humankind's myths. What myths are has been defined in various ways. The definition I prefer is that myths are traditional stories of ostensibly real events that serve to unfold part of the world view of a people, or to explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon. To study mythology is, in part, to become familiar with some of these stories.

But mythology also involves more than this. It is also the comparative study of the myths, or mythologies, of the human race, and of the common themes which course through them. One writer on myth points out that these themes appear "everywhere in new combinations while remaining, like the elements of a kaleidoscope, only a few and always the same."

3. Why should someone study this discipline?

I suppose I partly presented my own personal answer to this when I described how I became interested in mythology. I called it an experience which altered my own understanding of things. I believe that it can be much the same for anyone who approaches it in the correct frame of mind. First of all, myths reflect human nature and interpret human experience in the same sense that all literature does. Like the study of other literatures and film, it offers a body of works for the student to study and interpret, and it confers on the student the same benefits as other literary study--everything from knowledge about some of the oldest and greatest human stories to the practice of analysis, interpretation, and other higher-order thinking skills. But beyond this, mythology offer a particular systematic way of understanding human experience which overlaps other areas of inquiry but remains distinct and singular. See my next answer.

4. How does this discipline fit in with other disciplines in the curriculum?

Mythology relates directly to several other disciplines in the curriculum, and indirectly its materials and methods range far afield. I've already mentioned literature, and it is stands in the humanities category alongside Kirtland's other literature courses. A knowledge and understanding of mythology will certainly deepen and enrich a student's understanding of literature. The same is true for film and the fine arts. All are rich in the themes and patterns of myth, and often in explicitly mythological materials. A student's appreciation of music and the visual arts will be enhanced by a knowledge of the mythological background in which they are often created. Mythology's relationship to anthropology is also clear and direct, bringing the student a greater knowledge of human cultures through a study of their myths, and, reciprocally, drawing upon anthropology in an attempt to understand both the cultural significance of individual myths and the mythic archetypes and patterns common across cultures. Both history and archaeology have similar reciprocal relationships with mythology. They both inform and are informed by the study of myth. Mythology also has much to offer in connection with the study of psychology, as the interest of psychologists in myth since the beginnings of psychology has attested--Freud, Jung, Rank, Neumann, and others see myth as expressions of unconscious wishes and drives, or as expressions of the collective unconscious of humankind.

5. How does this discipline relate to the `real world'?

An intriguing question. Let me start by being a little theoretical. I also teach philosophy, whose early history can be viewed as a breaking away from myth and a turning toward a more rationalistic way of looking at the world and human experience. And philosophy, of course, gives birth to science. However, there is a sense in which all three ways of understanding experience--philosophy, science, and myth--are distinct, complementary, and "valid." Comparing myth with science might seem like comparing "error" with "truth." Yet, like science and like philosophy, myth seeks to explain the world and the significance of human experience, but it does so in different terms and on a different level. Myths answer a fundamental need of the human mind. If it were not so, the rationalism, the science, the technology of our world would be enough for us, and would have wiped out forever the lure of the ancient themes and patterns which are reflected in myth. Yet the ancient themes persist; they are everywhere around us--in our modern literature, our popular culture, in our movies. Mythology is not a substitute for science or for philosophy, but it offers a different way of understanding life that reveals its timeless themes and underlying patterns. The student whose understanding has been deepened through the study of mythology will find that neither life nor self looks quite the same as before.

6. What jobs might an understanding of, or a major in, this discipline prepare you for?

I point out to my philosophy students that the odds indicate that it's unlikely that they will ever take up philosophy as a vocation, or ever teach philosophy for a living. They are unlikely to directly achieve an occupational goal by taking a philosophy course. No, I tell them, the greatest value of taking a philosophy course may lie in the habit of mind it encourages, that of actually doing philosophy. If it becomes ingrained, students will carry the habit into their lives in the future. The result can be a greater understanding of themselves, of their ethical choices, of how they ought to live, and these, in turn, can help as they seek to become happier and more productive and personally fulfilled.