ABSTRACT
When studied intimately, myths, it turns out, not only track the astronomical world, they also describe travel routes and report on disputes with rival tribes; they explicate the origins of things and one’s relationship to one’s gods; they contemplate human mortality, record past gift exchanges, tell stories to appease rage and to manage conflict; and finally they vocally map the tribal past, recalling especially formidable events like floods and wars. Some might describe a film such as Ang Lee’s film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and a novel such as Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian as “mythic,” but they certainly aren’t so because of their investment in an oral way of knowing or any requirement that they reach an audience predisposed toward orality. A similar sort of problem arises with respect to epic.
