Description
Not just ancient stories—but a code for how we think, desire, fear, and believe.
Readers’ Favorite Book Award Winner
A profound psychological approach… Fascinating stuff. —James Sale, author of Gods, Heroes, and Us
Myths have never been merely entertainment. For thousands of years, they have shaped religion, philosophy, psychology, politics, and art. But what are they really—primitive science, moral allegory, psychological truth, or something stranger still?
In The Meaning of Myth, psychiatrist and philosopher Neel Burton explores why myth still grips the modern mind—and why it refuses to fade.
Part I seeks to understand what myth is, and how it relates to religion, ritual, science, legend, fairy tale, and modern storytelling. It examines how myths shape our ideas of heroes and monsters, desire and destruction, meaning and madness—and how they continue to structure the way we interpret ourselves and the world.
Part II applies these ideas to twelve of the most powerful Greek myths, including Echo and Narcissus, Eros and Psyche, Prometheus, Orpheus and Eurydice, Medusa, Theseus and the Minotaur, and Plato’s Myth of Er. Familiar stories become strange again—sharper, deeper, newly alive.
Are myths vessels of hidden wisdom, psychological archetypes, cultural memory—or something we have never fully understood?
This book doesn’t tell you what to believe. It shows you how to see.
About the author
Dr Neel Burton FRSA is a psychiatrist and philosopher. He is a Fellow of Green-Templeton College in the University of Oxford, and the recipient of several book prizes. His work has featured in the likes of Aeon and Psychology Today, and been translated into several languages.
Editorial reviews
Staggeringly exquisite… The Meaning of Myth by Neel Burton is teaching and writing at its most superb and is as entertaining as you could ever wish for. —Readers’ Favorite (5/5 stars)
In this fascinating read, psychiatrist and philosopher Neel Burton unpacks 12 popular tales—from Eros and Psyche to Orpheus and Eurydice—to explore the meaning of myth in today’s society and its relation to life, science, and religion. —BookBub (Featured New Release)
Burton’s erudition is apparent throughout this highly readable construction, balanced by a personable style and subtle humor. —The US Review of Books (Recommended)
Accessible and entertaining… Burton expounds some of the most intriguing Greek myths to shed light on this fascinating expression of the human imagination. —Prof Armand D’Angour, classical scholar and author of Socrates in Love
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