Introduction

This chapter is devoted to a short introduction to the concepts of myth, monomyth, and the American monomyth. This chapter presents reasons why it is possible to approach Michael Jordan as a protagonist of a modern-day myth of a hero’s journey; the author’s definition of modern-day myth, and his understanding of a modern sports ritual/spectacle. I shall also give an overview of the studies of myth, monomyth, and the American monomyth, as this study aims at determining whether the Jordan myth fits into frames of Campbell’s concept of the universal monomyth or/and the one proposed by Jewett and Lawrence idea of the American monomyth.