{"title":"Books by David Leeming","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780195387087","title":"The Oxford Companion to World Mythology","description":"Cave paintings at Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain, fraught with expression thousands of years later; point to an early human desire to form a cultural identity. In The Oxford Companion to World Mythology, David Leeming explores the role of mythology, or myth-logic, in history and determines that the dreams of specific cultures add up to a larger collective story of humanity. Stopping short of attempting to be all-inclusive, this fascinating volume will nonetheless be comprehensive, opening with an introduction exploring the nature and dimensions of myth and proposing a definition as a universal language. Briefly dipping into the ways our understanding of myth has changed from Aristotle and Plato to modern scholars such as Joseph Campbell, the introduction loosely places the concept in its present context and precedes articles on influential mythologists and mythological approaches that appear later in the Companion.The main body of Leeming's work consists of A-Z entries covering all aspects of mythology, including substantial essays on the world's major mythological traditions (Greek, Native American, Indian, Japanese, Sumerian, Egyptian), mythological types and motifs (Descent to the Underworld, the Hero, the Trickster, Creation, the Quest), mythological figures (Odysseus, Zeus, Osiris, Spider Woman, and Inanna) as well as numerous interrelated subjects such as fairy tales and legends. The Companion also locates myth in our lives today, relating it to language patterns, psychology, religion, politics, art, and gender attitudes. Many of the better-known and more significant myths are vividly retold in this volume that will be illustrated with maps, more than 70 black and white images, and eight pages of color highlighting the central role art has often played in the transmission and perpetuation of myth. Following the entries, a rich section of appendices will include family trees of the major pantheons, equivalency charts for the gods of Greece and Rome, Babylon and Sumer, as well as other traditions, an extensive bibliography, and an index.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56226165981557,"sku":"9780195387087","price":23.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780195387087_9847ae50-d9e9-4f6f-ae0f-59c316b6d376.jpg?v=1786011229"},{"product_id":"9781780239774","title":"Sex in the World of Myth","description":"In Sex in the World of Myth, David Leeming argues that sex is as important in myths as it is in our lives. Myths are our cultural dreams, and sex is pervasive in all mythologies because it has obsessed and confused us like nothing else – what’s more, sexual myths, like all myths, can serve many purposes. The reproductive acts of the ancient Greek goddess Gaia perhaps reflect a pre-Olympian matriarchal social system. The tales of the unbridled sexual deeds of the Polynesian Maui, and many others, speak to a natural fascination with the power and mystery of sexual drives.   Leeming demonstrates how even when such myths are meant to elicit laughter or titillation, the participation in them of sacred heroes and deities means they are in some sense religious – partial answers to the nature of existence in general, and human sexuality in particular.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303774564725,"sku":"9781780239774","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781780239774_306e9d84-04af-444a-af57-1caf95bc86ff.jpg?v=1786024424"},{"product_id":"9781780230955","title":"Medusa – In the Mirror of Time","description":"Medusa petrifies. Her gaze turned the ancients to stone; for Dante she was an erotic power that could destroy men. Freud saw in her serpentine hair a nest of terrifying penises signalling the castration complex, while for the Greek hero Perseus she was a dangerous female monster who must be destroyed. Yet in our time Medusa’s reputation has improved: feminists see her as a noble victim of a patriarchal society; the fashion house Versace celebrates the lure of her mysterious visage in a logo that stares out at us from his adverts; and she has served as a model for numerous theories by modern philosophers and intellectuals. In our contemporary culture she is once again a power player demanding to be recognized. Medusa still transfixes us. In Medusa: In the Mirror of Time David Leeming explores how and why the mythical figure of the Gorgon has become one of the most important and enduring of human history. He searches for Medusa’s origins in global cultures more disparate and more ancient than the well-known classical Greek and follows her path through the centuries. The author finds that the Medusa myth is a cultural dream that has continually developed and changed with each passing era, ultimately bringing him to the question: what does the Medusa dream say about us?","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56304068657525,"sku":"9781780230955","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781780230955_5139b38a-4818-4a14-810b-ea32ef9cad50.jpg?v=1786024334"},{"product_id":"9781949172669","title":"Amazing Grace: A Life of Beauford Delaney","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst published in 1998, Leeming’s landmark biography of Beauford Delaney returns to print\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLong out of print, this new edition of David Leeming’s landmark biography of Beauford Delaney (1901–79) features an introduction by Hilton Als. Leeming, also the author of James Baldwin’s acclaimed 1994 biography, delves into the captivating life of one of the most significant Black artists of our time. With rare affection, tact and insight, he paints a vivid portrait of an artist who defied convention and left an indelible mark on both art history and everyone he encountered—including a diverse array of writers, artists and musicians, from Henry Miller and Jean Genet to Baldwin and Georgia O’Keeffe.\u003cbr\u003eTracing Delaney’s humble beginnings in a deeply religious family in Knoxville, Tennessee, to New York, to his untimely demise in a Parisian asylum, Leeming draws not only on his close friendship with the artist but also journals, notebooks, letters and critical reviews, guiding the reader through the evolution of his practice and his remarkable life. As Als writes in his introduction: “Sadly, there are many ways for the queer Black boy to die—but also, many ways for him to live. Delaney saved his own life through art, the making of worlds based on what he saw in his internal and external universe.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDavid Adams Leeming\u003c\/b\u003e (born 1937) is an American philologist and Professor Emeritus of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe World of Myth\u003c\/i\u003e (1990), \u003ci\u003eJames Baldwin: A Biography\u003c\/i\u003e (1994) and the \u003ci\u003eOxford Companion to World Mythology\u003c\/i\u003e (2005). He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309857288565,"sku":"9781949172669","price":29.95,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781949172669_a6970bcc-c3ff-411e-ac64-2fce79c4745d.jpg?v=1786030695"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-david-leeming.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}