{"product_id":"the-absence-of-myth-sophia-heller-9780791465905","title":"The Absence of Myth","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDespite contemporary attempts to revive myth, this book argues that we are living in a world without myth and looks at what this means for humankind.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this provocative work, Sophia Heller challenges the assumption that we cannot be without myth, that myth is necessary to vital, soulful living. Indeed, Heller argues, we have been living in a world without myth for a long time. The Absence of Myth examines the loss of a religious mode of being-in-the-world and demonstrates how theorists who insist on the presence of myth deny its historical end.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbsence of myth may seem obvious: evidenced by our lack of cult and ritual, and by our de-animated natural world, as well as in the emergence of conceptual thought and psychological awareness, which could only arise with the dissolution of a prereflective (mythic) mode of being-in-the-world. But what appears to be straightforward becomes complicated when myth is intentionally conflated with thought and reflection, usually in the attempt to cultivate a \"mythic consciousness\" that aims to restore meaning to life and assuage the spiritual malaise of contemporary culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMyth cannot rest in peace. It must be continually unearthed, redefined, and recontextualized such that modern and postmodern notions of myth are made to substitute for something that has never been experienced, only imagined.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sophia Heller\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 079146590X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780791465905\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e State University of New York Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 270\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.83lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.96h x 6.08w x 0.64d","brand":"Sophia Heller","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48448948699391,"sku":"9780791465905","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_cf469680-564c-4159-b69b-c5278cc7680a.jpg?v=1777261306","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-absence-of-myth-sophia-heller-9780791465905","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}