Applied Mythology Reading List

Notes on how everything is organized: I will probably wind up zipping any downloaded files to a main zip file and link to it first on this page. I then list each presenter’s main blog or personal web site (if available). If I have time, I’ll post some of their other published works.

A quick reminder that I’ve just started this list (July 28) and it’s FAR from complete.

The weekly sessions have two sections: what the presenters recommended for reading/viewing and what other students suggested. Please feel free to share any links that I’ve missed and I’ll do my best to post them here.

Also please note that I’m in Canada and any book links are for Amazon.ca (it’s a default cookie-thing). If you’re searching from another country, there are many other book sources, such as Bookshop.org or IndieBound.org.

General Reading List Items:

All weekly readings, zip file (download). I will likely add a downloadable ZIP file during Week 7.

Instructor Blogs & Web Sites

Week 1 Links (Introduction)

Chalquist, Sir John of Steinbeck

Christine Downing, Beginning at the Beginning: Reflections of Egyptian Mythology, YouTube Presentation

Busting The Myth Of Mythology With Devdutt Pattanaik, YouTube Presentation

Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey, Amazon link.

Kim Hudson, The Virgin’s Promise, Amazon link.

Maureen Murdock, The Heroine’s Journey, Amazon link.

C.G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Amazon link.

Week 2 Links (Who We Are)

Kwame Scruggs, There’s a Secret in the Village, Amazon link.

Kwame Scruggs, Finding the Gold Within (video), Amazon Prime link (may not be available in certain jurisdictions).

Week 3 Links (Media)

Kylie Day, The Epic Guide to Hero Creation, Part 4: Antihero Archetypes

Jim Geraghty, Jungian Shadow Politics

Karpman Drama Triangle

Week 4 Links (AI)

Erik Davis, The Poison Processor

Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness

Santillana, Hamlet’s Mill

Aaron Z Lewis, Metaphors We Live By

Week 5 Links (Myths/Gods Among Us)

Phoenix Force & Feminine Jouissance, YouTube Presentation

Trauma, Initiation, and the Empowered Imagination in Grant Morrison’s “The Invisibles”, YouTube Presentation

Comic Books, Creativity, and Madness: Supernormal Powers and the Cracked and Fragmented Self , YouTube Presentation

Philip K Dick, Metz Speech, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xI6H4JcMpAU

Comic Books (Collected Editions)

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. 2016. Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, Book 1. New York, NY: Marvel Comics.
Gillen, Kieron. 2014. The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
Liu, Marjorie. 2016. Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
Vaughn, Brian K. 2016. Paper Girls, Vol. 1. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics.
Vaughn, Brian K. 2012. Y: The Last Man: Vol. 1: Unmanned. Burbank, CA: Vertigo/DC Comics.

Academic Sources on the Study of Comic Books and Pop Culture

Fawaz, Razi. 2016. The New Mutants: Superheroes and the Radical Imagination of American Comics. New York, NY: NYU Press.
Garrett, Greg. 2008. Holy Superheroes! Revised and Expanded Edition: Exploring the Sacred in Comics, Graphic Novels, and Film. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Gateward, Frances and J. Jennings. 2015. The Blacker the Ink: Constructions of Black Identity in Comics and Sequential Art. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Hajdu, David. 2008. The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America. New York, NY: Picador.
Hanley, Tim. 2014. Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World’s Most Famous Heroine. Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press.
Johnson, Jeffrey. 2012. Super-history: Comic Book Superheroes and American Society, 1938 to the Present. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Knowles, Christopher. 2007. Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes. San Francisco, CA: Weister, Ltd.
Kripal, Jeffrey J. 2007. “Mutant Marvels.” In The Serpent’s Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Kripal, Jeffrey J. 2011. Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Kripal, Jeffrey J. & W. Strieber. 2016. The Supernatural: A New Vision of the Unexplained. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Langley, Travis. 2012. Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Lepore, Jill. 2015. The Secret History of Wonder Woman. New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Morrison, Grant. 2011. Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human. New York, NY: Random House.
Nama, Adilifu. 2011. Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Nyberg, Amy. 1998. Seal of Approval: The History of the Comics Code. University Press of Mississippi.
Pustz, Matthew. 2012. Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. New York, NY: Continuum.
Reynolds, Richard. 1992. Super Heroes: A Modern Mythology. The University Press of Mississippi.
Rosenberg, Robin & J. Canzoneri (Eds.). 2008. The Psychology of Superheroes: An Unauthorized Exploration. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books.
Saunders, Ben. 2011. Do The Gods Wear Capes? Spirituality, Fantasy, and Superheroes. New York, NY: Continuum.
Smith, Matthew & R. Dunan (Eds). 2012. Critical Approaches to Comics: Theories and Methods. New York, NY: Routledge.
Womack, Ytasha. 2013. Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.
Wright, Bradford. 2001. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Additional Links:

Marjorie Liu, Tangleroot Place, Amazon

Philip Zimpbardo, TED Talk, Psychology of Evil.

Russell, The Prince of Darkness: Radical Evil and the Power of Good in History, Amazon

African American comic recommendations: https://bookriot.com/african-comics-and-graphic-novels/.

CBR, African American comics: https://www.cbr.com/black-comics-writers-must-read/

Kelly Sue DeConnick, Bitch Planet (Vol 1)

Valentine DeLandro, N.K. Jemisin’s Far Sector

Kwanza Osajyefo’s Black

Week 6 Links

Armstrong, https://www.amazon.ca/Short-History-Myth-Myths/dp/0676974244/

Bell, Catherine. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice.
Blackie, Sharon. The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday.
Brautigan, Richard. In Watermelon Sugar.
Campbell, Joseph. The Power of Myth.
– The Mythic Dimension: Selected Essays 1959-1987.
– Myths to Live By.
Cosmopoulos, Michael B. (Ed). Greek Mysteries: The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Greek Secret Cults.
Dufrenne, Mikel. The Phenomenology of Aesthetic Experience.
Driver, Tom F. The Magic of Ritual: Our Need for Liberating Rites That Transform Our Lives and Communities.
Eliade, Mircea. The Sacred and the Profane and Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth.
Eno, Brian and Peter Schmidt. Oblique Strategies: Over one hundred worthwhile dilemmas
Fierz-David, Linda. Dreaming in Red: The Women’s Initiation Chamber in Pompeii.
Grimes, Ronald. L. (Ed.) Readings in Ritual Studies.
Hillman, James. A Blue Fire: Selected Writings. Thomas Moore, Ed.
– Mythic Figures.
– The Thought of the Heart and the Soul of the World.
Hollis, James. Tracking the Gods: The Place of Myth in Modern Life.
Hyde, Lewis. The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World. (Any edition of this classic book will do. Also appears as The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World.)
– Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art.
Ingerman, Sandra. The Book of Ceremony.
Johnson, Robert. Ecstasy: Understanding the Psychology of Joy.

Week 7 Links

Chalquist, Myths Among Us

Chalquist, A Brief Mythology of Petroleum

Video: More About the Great Mother Archetype

The Orishas, https://legacy.cs.indiana.edu/~port/teach/205/santeria2.html

Kennedy, Earthrise (Joseph Campbell), NYT Link (possible pay wall)

Misc Information & Details

So far, no miscellaneous link, but Campbell, Hillman, Eliade and others have been referenced many times.

I will add to this list if other suggestions come my way.

General Reading List Items:

Instructor Blogs & Web Sites

Week 1: Craig Chalquist

Week 2: Kwame Scruggs

Week 3: Kelly Carlin

Week 4: Erik Davis

Week 5: David Odorisio

Week 6:

Week 7 (Craig Chalquist hosting again):