More Academic Than Entertaining
Author: Edith Hamilton
I remember Edit Hamilton’s Mythology with its depiction of a warrior riding a Pegasus from my childhood. This book was in my mom’s growing collection, and I would always look at it as a child and say “that, that I HAVE to read someday.” In grade school I adored anything to do with Greek mythology, despite the fact that what I read was inevitably watered down and sanitized for children.
After 20+ years (ok, going on 30+, but whatever) I finally got to follow-through on my childhood promise when I snatched Hamilton’s now famous Mythology from an Audible sale. Maybe I built it up too much. Maybe I waited too long. Maybe it’s just because I’ve since been exposed to more entertaining (albeit inaccurate) depictions of dramatized mythology. This book was just a disappointment. Worse yet, I found myself bored and drifting when I listened to it.
Hamilton is first and foremost a scholar, and her Mythology reminds me more of the college texts I read once upon a time, where the heroes and their often grisly, racy, and generally inappropriate journeys were overwhelmed by the sheer level of J-STOR-esque quibbles that destroyed the good story vibe and made it just intellectual enough to be unpleasant. The same goes for this collection.
Hamilton begins with a mission. She lays out all the Greek gods, mirrors them to their cut-and-paste Roman counterparts, and goes over all the names and relationships. Perhaps it’s easier on paper (no doubt) but in audio book format it is simply too much. It echoes the begat sections in the Bible where, despite much attempted emotion, I often started to skim. The intro means nothing to anyone looking for a good story, whereas I’m sure it means everything to those approaching with a desire to learn. I just wanted the sensationalism and entertainment.
After Hamilton lays the foundation for her opus, we finally get to the stories, broken out first by the gods, creation, and the earliest heroes; then stories of love and adventure; then very abbreviated moments in the Trojan War and follow-up stories about its heroes and miscreants (mostly stolen from the Iliad); the great families (finally we get to the House of Atreus); a section literally named less important myths (Midas resides here); and then in a very odd and brief testament: a super short, super cursory look at Norse mythology. Grouping everything by theme like this actually makes the stories all sound the same. It becomes repetitive, dull. Hamilton’s constant scholarly interjections destroy any sense of entertainment wrought by the narrative, and soon it becomes an exercise just to finish.
I still gave Mythology a pretty decent rating because as a scholarly work it is unparalleled, and as a brief introduction to the big portions of Greek mythology it’s clear, succinct, and seemingly accurate (not even going to touch on the travesty of Norse mythology at the end). But for sheer entertainment value and the original intent of the myths – i.e. storytelling – Hamiton’s Mythology is a failure. Recommended for those who want to study and learn, but not so much for your average reader who just wants a juicy tale.
– Frances Carden
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