The Mythology of All Races, Vol. 11: Latin-American

Alexander, Hartley Burr, 1873-1939Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 4.0
Word count
888K words
Chapters
89

Tags

English Originals Folk LiteratureReligion Religious InquiryAcademic StudyMythology StudiesEclectic ReadingLatin American CultureFolk CustomsCross-Cultural View

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Mythology of All Races, Vol. 11: Latin-American by Hartley Burr AlexanderAuthor: Alexander, Hartley Burr, 1873-1939,Language: English, Class: BL: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Religion: General, Miscellaneous and Atheism, Release Date: Nov 26, 2018

Editor's review

Volume 11 of the large mythology series The Mythology of All Races, this book is devoted to Latin American mythology and was written by Hartley Burr Alexander. Rather than a patchwork of scattered stories, it systematically surveys the mythic systems and religious conceptions of Mesoamerican and South American Indigenous peoples along regional and ethnic lines, with attention to documentary sources and comparative perspective. As a work of early twentieth-century mythology scholarship, its value lies in preserving an early organizing framework and narrative outline that helps readers build an overall map; its limitation is that some materials and interpretations bear the marks of their time and should be read alongside later research. The electronic edition comes from Project Gutenberg and serves well as an introductory guide or source index for mythology, religious studies, and Latin American studies, and as slow reading for those interested in ancient American cosmology. Readers are advised to begin with the introduction and table of contents to form a framework before entering specific chapters.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Not a good fit for

Reading tips

  1. Read the introduction and table of contents first, sketch the regional and ethnic framework, then proceed chapter by chapter.
  2. Prepare a glossary of terms and divine names, noting as you read to reduce confusion.
  3. When encountering specific mythic narratives, grasp the plot function first, then revisit the author's comparative interpretation.
  4. Read alongside later Latin American mythology research, distinguishing source material from period-bound interpretation.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43
  44. 44
  45. 45
  46. 46
  47. 47
  48. 48
  49. 49
  50. 50
  51. 51
  52. 52
  53. 53
  54. 54
  55. 55
  56. 56
  57. 57
  58. 58
  59. 59
  60. 60
  61. 61
  62. 62
  63. 63
  64. 64
  65. 65
  66. 66
  67. 67
  68. 68
  69. 69
  70. 70
  71. 71
  72. 72
  73. 73
  74. 74
  75. 75
  76. 76
  77. 77
  78. 78
  79. 79
  80. 80
  81. 81
  82. 82
  83. 83
  84. 84
  85. 85
  86. 86
  87. 87
  88. 88
  89. 89

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with no background in mythology? It can be read, but expectations should be adjusted. It is more a systematic academic guide than a popular story collection. Begin with the introduction and table of contents to establish the regional and ethnic framework, then select specific chapters; dense divine names and source discussions can be skipped for the time being and returned to later.
What should be noted when reading the electronic edition? The Project Gutenberg edition is an English public-domain e-book, convenient for searching and excerpting, but layout and annotation presentation vary by device. Use a reader that supports table-of-contents navigation and mark chapters and terms yourself; for research citation, verify original page numbers or a reliable edition.
Are the book's views still reliable today? As an early work of mythology scholarship, its organization of materials and narrative framework remain useful for reference, but some classifications and interpretations bear the marks of the early twentieth century. It is best treated as a documentary map and introductory guide; specific conclusions should be read alongside later archaeological and ethnographic research.
Do I need prior knowledge of Latin American history to read this book? Systematic prior study is not necessary, but basic spatial and temporal concepts of Mesoamerica and the Andes will make reading smoother. Half an hour before reading to learn the main civilizations and the general outline before and after colonization will help; while reading, correlate myths with ethnic groups and regions for clearer understanding.

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About the author

Alexander, Hartley Burr, 1873-1939 Author

Hartley Burr Alexander (1873–1939) was an American philosopher and writer. Public information about his life and academic posts is limited, and he is now known to readers mainly for his work in mythology. One of his works is held in this collection: The Mythology of All Races, Vol. 11: Latin-American. This volume forms the Latin American part of a large multi-volume mythology compilation, gathering and organizing the myths, legends, and religious ideas of the native peoples of the Americas, and it clearly has the character of a source compilation and comparative study. Alexander's writing is chiefly concerned with arranging and classifying materials, in plain language, with attention to presenting the myths of different peoples as they are. Compilations of this kind played a part in the dissemination of mythological and anthropological knowledge in the early twentieth century and remain useful as reference reading for understanding Latin American mythological systems.