THE GOLDEN HORNS: MYTHIC IMAGINATION AND THE NORDIC PAST. by Greenway, John L - 1977

Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1977. 226 pp, 9 5/16" H. "As an introduction to modern myth, (this book) masterfully encompasses a wide circle of historical and literary materials. John Greenway examines first the nature of time in the mythic consciousness, then the role of the Nordic past as a myth of origins from the Renaissance through the romantics. Only in the various forms of myth can man find identity, the author argues, and he sees the varying images of the Viking past as unconscious attempts by northern nations to legitimize their own values. Central to (his) methodology is his discussion of the sacred in language not itself sacred and the failure of modern myth to make the primitive distinction between the sacred and the profane. The author establishes the theoretical base of his discussion by examining the nature of time in mythic consciousness in terms of Norse myth. After suggesting several ways in which the mythic apprehension of reality conditioned medieval Icelandic narrative, (he) elaborates on the dialectical relationship between myth and reason, using as an example the conversion of the Germanic tribes to Christianity. Maintaining that myth is neither true nor false but always either expressive or not, Greenway traces the origin, rise, and fall of two great modern myths of northern birth: Swedish Gothicism in the seventeenth century and the Ossianic craze of the eighteenth. Both myths, one social, the other literary, illustrate the singular tension in the modern mind between mythic imperatives and the impulse to de-mythologize. Finally, 'The Golden Horns' traces the romantic belief in a 'new mythology' which synthesizes myth and reason from its early acceptance through its eventual repudiation. In his conclusions about the state of myth in the modern world, Greenway postulates that we have inherited the romantic respect for myth as truth but lack the romantic faith in transcendence necessary to establish myth's reality. We are trapped in a physical and moral world which we, as romantics, recognize to be symbolic in its representations, but we lack a belief in the transcendental reality of these symbols." Previous owner's name, date and small notation on title page. Dust jacket is price clipped, has light wear and wrinkling at top/bottom of spine and flap-folds.. Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good.