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Hero Myths: A Reader. Ed. Robert A. Segal. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2000. Pp. ix + 219, introduction, index.)
Robert A. Segal, well known for his scholarly publications on mythology, for his classic study of Joseph Campbell, and for his recent book Theorizing about Myth (University of Massachusetts Press, 1999), has now published a reader eminently suitable for classroom use. It appears at the right time, since interest in mythology continues unabated on American campuses, and undergraduate mythology courses are increasingly popular. The line-up of the twenty-two hero figures in Segal's reader includes hero myths from distant times and places (Sigurd, Finn, Coyote, Maui, Arjuna, Gilgamesh) as well as a selection from American cultural hagiography (John Henry, George Washington, Davy Crockett, Elvis Presley). Other figures come with interesting and more or less appropriate tags: "national hero" (the duke of Wellington), "class hero" (Robin Hood), "explorer" (Christopher Columbus), "saint hero" (Joan of Arc), "intellectual...