Eric Csapo’s Theories of Mythology
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Eric Csapo’s purpose in this brilliant collection of essays is to inform the student of the mythology, anthropology, and history of the many schools of criticism that have been applied to the understanding of myth. Csapo’s work has a high level of integrity. He introduces his subjects objectively and provides an extensive, contextual discussion of the prevailing influences and philosophies that served as catalysts for each of the schools of criticism.
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His attention to Structuralism makes clear some of the more difficult concepts involved in its methodology. He begins the chapter with a look at the central shift in socio-political thought in the West during the Nineteenth century, pointing out that the predominant anthropological position on “savage” disorder (such as J.G. Frazer’s views) in non-European cultures failed to convince newer generations emerging from the tattered remains of Imperialism. The Twentieth century ushered in urbanization, a monster of massive proportions that seemed to sweep aside individual identity in a wave of industry and commerce.
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Csapo eloquently describes the effect of this movement on the individual, linking its inherently chaotic momentum with a growing need for structure and order. Into this melee of social upheaval, Ferdinand de Saussure delivered several lectures on general linguistics between 1907 and 1911. His work introduced the philosophical explanation that a word, or concept, is not a particular thing; rather, it is “defined not by [its] positive content but [by its] negative. [Its] most precise characteristic is in being what the others are not” (187).
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Although he does not agree with the Structuralist view in general, Csapo expresses a certain level of respect for the some of the work of Levi-Strauss, and much less for what he considers the overbearing structure of Vladimir Propp. Indeed, Csapo’s own alignment is ideological. He discusses Poststructuralisms, Postmodernism, and Ideology as a modern blending of ideas that have generated what he terms new schools of “radical social criticism” that have taken over the Humanities and social sciences in Western universities. “Feminist criticism, queer theory, black studies (in the USA), postcolonial criticism (in Britain),” and several other formal schools of thought have risen in response to the oppression of “marginalized groups,” and their goal is “liberation” (277).
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Csapo’s investigation of the culture of postindustrial capitalism is a perceptive look at how modern myths are used in contemporary cultures. The Western power shift from industrial capitalism to what Csapo terms the “commodity exchange” has created an equal and profound paradigm shift in this culture’s perception of reality and representation. Although we are still a capitalist culture, our attention has become focused more on the symbolic meaning of goods than on their intrinsic practical value. These modern myths are created and thrown about in advertising and packaging, seducing or manipulating consumer commodity exchange based on superficial, mythic constructions of glamour, strength, power, or any number of other contemporary value sets.
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Csapo writes, “The mass media and the bulk of the resources of postindustrial consumer capitalism are directed to representations whose connection with reality grows increasingly tenuous” (286). Siegfried Kracauer echoed this same concern in his Theory of Film, as did Nickolas Haydock in his excellent study, Movie Medievalism: The Imaginary Middle Ages. The harsh realities of Industrialization have bred a contrary consumer attraction to cultural myth constructions. It is clear from the structure and methodology Csapo uses in Theories of Mythology, that he believes myth and other forms of literary narrative can be catalysts for social change, or at least highly influential in that they function in society conjointly with schools of criticism that attempt to analyze them in social and cultural contexts.