Bulfinch's Mythology (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Book

Have problems distinguishing Perseus from Theseus? Can't tell a Titan from an Olympian? Do those mythology questions on Jeopardy leave you stumped? Could mythology be your Achilles heel?

If your knowledge of Greek mythology is derived primarily from Saturday morning cartoons, then maybe it's time for a refresher course. Yes, I know - life is busy, and you have philosophical objections to the dominance accorded the Greeks where mythology is concerned. Too bad. That argument may be theoretically sound, but it's completely irrelevant in practice. Greek mythology is so embedded in every aspect of our culture that ignorance dooms one an impoverished intellectual life. Fortunately, the converse is also true - greater familiarity with the myths and legends of the ancient Greeks will enrich your intellectual life generally and your reading experience in particular. So learning more is an investment with a big payoff. But where to begin?

Over the past few weeks I've been reading several different books about Greek mythology, partly to get a sense of the degree of consistency across the various versions, also to see if any stood out as clearly superior. This is one of several linked reviews, which I hope may be useful to anyone looking for a decent, accessible book about Greek mythology. I've tried to evaluate each book separately on its own merits, as well as give my opinion of how well it stacked up against the others. The comparative ranking is obviously highly subjective. It's based on an evaluation of three main characteristics: (i) readability/accessibility, (ii) accuracy/credibility, and (iii) scope/breadth of coverage. I should note upfront that "accuracy" is an elusive concept in this context - there are multiple variations of many legends, with no obvious criterion for designating a single, canonical "correct" version. However, some authors were noticeably better about referencing appropriate source materials and acknowledging alternative variants, so I factored this into my assessment of overall credibility.

I thought it would be useful to consider some specific examples, to base the comparison on a concrete foundation, rather than waffle in abstract generalities. So I looked in detail at the way each of the books on the list presented the following stories:

* the life and exploits of Hercules (Herakles to the Greeks)
* the sad fate of the sisters Procne and Philomela

I chose the first of these to see whether or not a given book would do justice to the entire life of Hercules, by providing the backstory for the 12 Labors, as well as the various other exploits, from his singularly complicated birth to his equally complicated death. The story of Philomela and Procne is one I've always liked since stumbling across the word philomelian (like, or pertaining to, the nightingale) and tracking down its etymology. It derives from Philomela, a princess of Athens who was raped by her brother-in-law Tereus. He cut out her tongue to silence her; the gods transformed her into a nightingale, so that she could sing beautifully for ever*.

Here is the list of books included in my overall evaluation:
Bulfinch's Mythology (Modern Library Paperback Edition, 2004)
Mythology by Edith Hamilton (originally published in 1942; Back Bay Books edition of 1998)
The Greek Myths by Robert Graves (Penguin Books combined edition, 1992)
Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece by Gustav Schwab (Pantheon Books, copyright 1946)
Don't Know Much About Mythology by Kenneth C. Davis (Harper Collins, 2005)
Myths of the Ancient Greeks by Richard P. Martin (New American Library, 2003)

Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867) was a Boston bank clerk, best known for the three constituent volumes that make up Bulfinch's Mythology

1. The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes (1855)
2. The Age of Chivalry, or Legends of King Arthur (1858)
3. Legends of Charlemagne, or Romance of the Middle Ages (1863)

This review considers only the first of the three volumes. Although it was popular in its day, it was by far the worst of the six books on my list, so my review here is relatively short. Bulfinch's primary sources for the classical myths were Ovid and Virgil; he stated his goal as follows:

Our work is not for the learned, nor for the theologian, nor for the philosopher, but for the reader of English literature, of either sex, who wishes to comprehend the allusions so frequently made by public speakers, lecturers, essayists, and poets, and those which occur in polite conversation.

That reference to "polite conversation" turns out to be important - by today's standards, Bulfinch's work suffers from a crippling defect - all of the stories have been savagely bowdlerized to avoid any possible offence to the 19th century sensibilities of genteel Americans. In some cases, the legend is presented in cleaned-up form (no sex, no violence); many of the fundamental myths just don't make it in at all (for instance, all that violent stuff of the Greek creation myths).

This explains the absence of any reference to my second test case - the Philomela-Procne-Tereus legend, whose references to rape, imprisonment, and the cutting out of tongues were obviously too disturbing for Bulfinch's target audience. (Not to mention the part where the vengeful Procne boils her son and serves him to Tereus in a casserole).

Bulfinch's version of Hercules's story does little to redeem him. His treatment, which is dispatched in a mere 5 pages, is risibly perfunctory, to the point of failing to list all 12 Labors. If Bulfinch were your only guide, you'd never find out about the Cerynean hind, the Erymanthian boar, the Stymphalian birds, the Cretan bull, or the mares of Diomedes.

Bulfinch's desire to make Greek mythology palatable to the genteel Americans of mid-19th century Boston results in a book that may have interesting to his target readership, but is now little more than a historical curiosity.



* In Ovid's Metamorphoses Philomela's defiant speech is rendered as:
"Now that I have no shame, I will proclaim it.
Given the chance, I will go where the people are,
Tell everybody; if you shut me here,
I will move the very woods and rocks to pity.
The air of Heaven will hear, and any God,
If there is any God in Heaven, will hear me."
The myth of Philomela is also referenced in Eliot's The Waste Land:
"Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of Philomel, by the barbarous king
So rudely forced; yet there the nightingale
Filled all the desert with inviolable voice
And still she cried, and still the world pursues,
'Jug Jug' to dirty ears."
from Section II, "A Game of Chess", and later, in Section III, "The Fire Sermon":
"Twit twit twit
Jug jug jug jug jug jug
So rudely forc'd.
Tereu "
An alternative version of the story has Philomela transformed to a swallow (lacking a song), with her sister Procne undergoing the change to a nightingale. Husband/rapist Tereus is changed into a hoopoe (or a hawk).