Mythologies by Yves Bonnefoy Wendy Doniger

Mythologies by Yves Bonnefoy; Wendy Doniger
The Wilson Quarterly (1976-), Vol. 15, No. 4 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 99-100
Published by: Wilson Quarterly
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CURRENT BOOKS
at a deeper level, only reinforce them. For Greenblatt'sRenaissance is thus pow-

example, he takes up Rabelais's mocking erfully politicized but also profoundly
comedy and the notion that it encourages pessimistic. Because literatureis locked so
a subversion of orthodox norms and val- firmly into the structures of its historical
ues. But Greenblatt argues that Rabelai- moment, there is no way off the ferris
sian laughter,by releasing aggression in a wheel, nothing it can achieve beyond con-
nonviolent form, admits the impotence of stantlyif unwillinglytestifyingto the domi-
its own gestures of rebellion. "Thegesture nance of the powers that be. Yet this un-
of insult is at the same time an availing conclusion surely arises from the
acknowledgement of defeat," he says; it method itself. In Greenblattianhistory not
testifies to the enduring power of what is much can be done other than endlessly to
being mocked. Again, in an essay on Mar- recycle social energy.
lowe's TheJew of Malta,he brings out the This ruptured radicalism tells us as
surprisingbut deceptive modernityof Mar- much about the situation of academics in
lowe's social analysisby juxtaposingit with the 1990s as it does about Shakespeare's
Marx's essay "On the Jewish Question." situation in the 1590s. It is certainly not
like Karl Marx, Marlowe uses anti-Semi- surprisingat this juncture to find so subtle
tism to expose the underlying materialism and searching a critique of power being
of his society. In his play, the Maltese combined with so gloomy a conviction
Christiansbait the Jew Barabas, but the that nothing can ever be done about it. To-
Jewishness which they revile exemplifies ward the end of this volume, Greenblatt
the market mentality of their own world. analyzes the political language of present-
"Marlowe never discredits anti-Semitism, day America and finds it involved in the
but he does discredit early in the play a same dizzyingcirculations of power which
'Christian'social concern that might other- criticize authority yet ultimately reaffirm
wise have been used to counter a specifi- it. If the Americaof Reaganand Bush gives
cally Jewish antisocial element." To both way to possibilities for more profound
Marlowe and Marx, society is cursed by change, Greenblatt's Shakespeare may,
the power of money. The difference is that conceivably, be the first citizen to change
Marlowehad no expectations that it might along with it.
ever be better. Indeed, his laughter at Uto-
pian solutions is no less harshthan his ridi- - MartinButler,a formerWilsonCenter
cule of sacred cows. Marlowe's politics Fellow, is lecturer in English at the
were radical, Greenblatt writes, but also Universityof Leeds and the author of
radicallydevoid of hope. Theatreand Crisis 1632-1642 (1984).
OTHER TITLES
Arts & Letters book on mythology- or so the response to Jo-

seph Campbell's The Power of Myth (1988),
MYTHOLOGIES.Compiledby Yves Robert Bly's Iron John (1990), and Rollo May's
Bonnefoy.Trans,under the directionof Wendy The Cry for Myth (1991) seems to suggest. In
Doniger.2 volumes. Univ.of Chicago.1267 pp. these works mythologyresembles do-it-yourself
$250 psychotherapy.The individual is instructed to
create his own religion or to "follow his bliss"
Once the surest way to write a bestseller was to or to take the hero's voyage throughthe under-
write a cookbook. Today it may be to write a world of his own problems.
WQ AUTUMN 1991
99
CURRENT BOOKS
This,however,is not which it is no longer gods but ideas that guide,"

the way Bonnefoy, a then our own supposedlydemythologized"mo-
poet and professorat dernity" suddenly looks like a mythological
the Collègede France, creation. As Bonnefoy observes, "Myths are
presents his subject. never recognized for what they are, except
Mythologies is less when they belong to others."
about the relations of
individuals to myths
(sacred narratives)than GOETHE:The Poet and His Age. Volume I:
about the relationship The Poetryof Desire (1749-1790). By Nicholas
between societies and Boyle. Oxford.807 pp. $37.50
the mythologies (sys-
tems of myths) that sus- Poet, dramatist,novelist, painter, scientist, ad-
tain them. Nor do any ministrator- Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-
of the 395 articles collected here retell the fa- 1832) has long enjoyed the reputation of an
miliarlegends that once formed part of our cul- Olympian, the calm, lofty embodiment of an
tural literacy. As Wendy Doniger, who super- age that bears his name: the Goethezeit.But,
vised the translation,writes, "One has Robert Boyle, a professor of German at Cambridge
Gravesfor that." University,reminds us of the turbulence that
In essays that range from Africa to Lapland, Goethe lived through in order to attain such
from the Americasto the Near East,the interest classical composure. A child of the prosperous
is as much in methodology as in mythology- Frankfurtbourgeoisie, born almost a half-cen-
in, as Doniger says, "how to understanda my- tury before the French Revolution, Goethe
thology,what questions to ask, what patternsto would live to see every known certaintystood
look for." Indeed, behind the work of the on its head. In a famous essay, "In Search of
nearly 100 contributors(including anthropolo- Goethe from Within" (1932), the philosopher
gists, archaeologists, historians, linguists, and José Ortegay Gassetargued that changing mo-
philosophers)lies the shadow of two figuresnot res and social uncertainties propelled Goethe
present: Georges Dumézil (1898-1986) and into ceaseless travel, literaryexperiments, and
ClaudeLévi-Strauss(1908-). Dumézil and Lévi- various occupations in order to find a sense of
Straussoverturnedan earlier understandingof identity that always inwardlyeluded him.
myth, shaped by Sir James Frazierand Lucien Goethe studied law at Leipzigand Strasbourg
Levy-Bruhl.This older view presented mythol- while earninga small reputationas a lyric poet.
ogy as a primitivemode of thinking,left behind Then, at age 24, he became nationallyfamous
as societies evolved and became "modern." with the publication of his play G'ôtzvon Ber-
Lévi-Straussargued that so-called primitiveand lichingen (1773), which boasts one of the most
modern beliefs do not differ structurallybut quoted lines in Germanliterature- Gôtz'sdefi-
representalternativeways of organizingfamily ant message to the Emperor to "lick his arse."
kinships, social life, and material production. Twelve months later he published the Sorrows
Dumézil proposed that the almost infinite vari- of Young Werther (1774), the first modern
ety in mythology could be reduced to a small novel about an alienated youth. Overnight,
number of myths arranged in different com- Goethe became an internationalsensation. The
binations and that these myths reflect the laws Werther cult inspired countless Werther-style
of human mental activityin society. suicides throughout Europe as well as porce-
Mythologies shows what happens when a lain services decorated with scenes from the
younger generation of scholars apply Dumézil novel.
and Lévi-Straussto a dazzling array of topics, In 1775, to prove that the poet could influ-
rangingfrom the placenta in West Africanritu- ence events, Goethe accepted an appointment
als to the significance of the number seven at the Duke of Saxe-Weimar'scourt. He soon
among the indigenous Indo-Chinese.Yet when became the second most powerful man in Wei-
the Swiss scholar Jean Molino discusses nation- mar. The historian Herder jealously observed,
alism and socialism as mythic thinking "in "So he is now Permanent Privey Councillor,
WQ AUTUMN1991
100

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Mythologies by Yves Bonnefoy; Wendy Doniger

at a deeper level, only reinforce them. For Greenblatt'sRenaissance is thus pow-

Arts & Letters book on mythology- or so the response to Jo-

This,however,is not which it is no longer gods but ideas that guide,"

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