This is a textbook designed to introduce literature students to mythological analysis of literary works. The author's introduction glides through the diverse theories of myth by giving only the smallest samples from the major players and treating their ideas as if they all were in basic agreement. His view is that myths are large cultural metaphors which can, ultimately, be seen in any story.

After the introduction he devotes a chapter to the Hero Quest myth and another to three other mythic tropes (loss of innocence, duality, and fertility). Each chapter is liberally sprinkled with literary examples. The last section of the book is an anthology of readings related to these four tropes without commentary. A short bibliography rounds out the book.

While I agree with the author's theses, a lot of what he has to say seems self-evident and facile to me. This would perhaps not have been true if I was a freshman starting out in the study of literature. ( )