The myths of many supposedly primitive or marginal cultures are every bit as powerful

and evocative as myth as those of the better known traditions. However, none of them
were the basis for a major world religion nor were they used by the greatest poets. A
certain “path dependency” starts to set in, and you tend to focus on those mythologies
with a larger reach. If you want to understand the vast riches of European literature, you
need to know something of Greek myth and King Arthur. So, no matter how rich the
other myths are, they are likely to be rather neglected relative to their intrinsic merits.

Which leads me to some preliminary apologies. First of all, talking about Indian, African,
South American, and Native American mythology (or even folktales) is a bit silly. We are
talking about whole continents here, with a wide variety of cultures and peoples in them.
But that just brings up the broader, inevitable, failing here: you simply cannot become
knowledgable all the world’s mythologies. So, you have to choose.

However, even the treatment here of large, materially rich civilizations like Japan and
China does not do them justice. I would note that not all of this is due to me. I’m not
living in these other cultures, and sources and secondary materials on non-Western
cultures are much harder to find in the West. But it is a bit of a failing in this list.

Anyway, this list is Eurocentric. But I hope I’ve given you some hints as to where you
might go, if you are so inclined.

-----

As modern people, chances are you won’t intuitively understand much of what is going
on in these myths, so I would strongly suggest taking up some of the secondary literature
listed here. Unfortunately, secondary work is also harder to find on a lot of the non-
Western sources we do have access to.

-----

I do include a list of children’s lit here, which tends to be more mythological in form, but
for most mythologies I tend to focus on works for adults.

-----

I would like to make a general recommendation of some useful series:

1. The Legendary Past – Put out by the University of Texas, this series takes on Hindu,
Persian, Chinese, Mesopotamian, Celtic, Norse, Russian, Egyptian, Roman, Etruscan,
Greek, Inca, and Aztec & Maya mythologies. The books are fairly short, but usually of
high quality.
2. Library of the World’s Myths and Legends – Takes on Greek, Roman, Celtic,
Christian, Jewish, Persian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Oceanic and Australasian, African,
Scandinavian, Mexican and Central American, South American, and North American
Indian mythologies. Again, short, but generally high quality.
3. Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library – Individual titles discussed below in Fairy
Tale section.
4. Folktales of the World – This is an older series put out by the University of Chicago
Press. Available titles discussed below in Fairy Tale section.

-----

The Great Courses has an audio lecture series called Great Mythologies of the World. It
includes quite large sections on the comparatively neglected mythologies of Africa and
Native North America.

-----

Looking at the list, my guess is that you’re probably going to feel overwhelmed. You
could kill yourself trying to read everything of worth in world mythology. So, unlike the
other lists, where with time you really can get through them all, this is more about
suggesting possibilities.

My thoughts on where to begin are as follows:

1. Greek and Roman Mythology (Jenny March)

2. Arthurian Mythology (Malory or a modernization)
3. The most well-known fairy tale collections: the Arabian Nights, Perrault, Grimm, and
Anderson.
4. A mythology from your local area, or which you have some pre-existing connection to,
or which is used by a poet you particularly like.

(I know some of you have connections to South America or Iran or the Caribbean. Why
not start with those?)

Then you can start branching out to see what fits you. The Legendary Past and the
Library of the World’s Myths and Legends series are good places to start.

Unlike the other lists, I cannot claim to have read through all of these works, though I
have looked into most of them. The point is to give you options. I thought of adding some
history here, but that would essentially make this list endless.

-----

Greek and Roman Mythology

Greek and Roman Mythology is by far the most important for understanding European
poetry of all eras. The book you should start with is:
Jenny March – Penguin Book of Classical Myth
Elizabeth Vandiver – Classical Mythology (The Great Courses audio lectures)

I have looked at a lot of retellings of Greek and Roman myth, including well known
versions by Bulfinch, Hamilton and Graves, but March is by far the best. Her book is
comprehensive and the stark, unadorned retellings present the myths in all their archaic
power. Her prose isn’t dazzling, but it has enough narrative panache to keep you reading.
Her only rival would be the original Greek mythographer, Apollodorus

Of course, you could simply get your knowledge of Greek and Roman myths from
reading the Greek and Roman classics, and that would not be the worst way of getting to
know them. However, inevitably you will miss out on some parts of the mythology, as
you may only get part of the story or even just a cryptic allusion. For example, Hercules
had a whole complex of stories around him, but they were only occasionally taken up by
well-known writers. Still, even if you read March first, it is well worth it to take up the
classic authors.

Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Pindar, Catullus, and Virgil contain a lot of
mythological material, but are also in the top ranks of writers and deserve to be read for
more than just their stories. They will be taken up elsewhere.

There are, however, many works that aren’t really on that level, but who are nonetheless
quite charming storytellers:

Hesiod – Theogony and Works and Days, translated by Daryl Hine

The Homeric Hymns, translated by Daryl Hine
Ovid – Metamorphoses, translated by Allen Mandelbaum or Horace Gregory
Apuleius – The Golden Ass, especially Cupid and Psyche, translated by Robert Graves
Plutarch – The Life of Theseus

-----

There are also myths and fables that aren’t really part of “Greek mythology,” but are
certainly myths, or myth-like stories, told by Greeks. These include the myths told by
Plato, including the myth of the cave and the legend of Atlantis, and the stories told by
Aesop.

Plato – Selected Myths, edited by Catalin Partenie.

Aesop – Fables

The French poet Jean de la Fontaine did some superb adaptations of Aesop into verse.
The best translations of these are by James Michie and Christopher Betts.

-----
The early history of Rome was heavily mythologized. The major stories are retold in
March, but these originals are also worth reading:

Plutarch – The Life of Romulus

Livy – The Early History of Rome, Books 1-5

-----

Secondary authors I have found useful include Walter Burkert, Richard Buxton, John
Ruskin (Queen of the Air), G.S. Kirk, M.I. Finley, and E.R. Dodds. Routledge has a
series of short books on individual Greek gods and heroes that is excellent. Elizabeth
Vandiver’s Classical Mythology audio lectures for The Great Courses company are a
good mix of storytelling and interpretation. Her lectures on Greek Tragedy are good on
how the individual tragedians adapted these myths for their own purposes.

--------------

King Arthur

Next to Greek and Roman myths, the next most important series of mythological stories
for European literature are those surrounding King Arthur. The following are what I think
of as the most essential works based on Arthurian (or Arthurian attached) material,
though there is much, much more out there:

Geoffrey of Monmouth – History of the Kings of Britain

The Mabinogion, translated by Jeffrey Gantz
Chretien de Troyes – Eric and Enid, translated by Burton Raffel
Chretien de Troyes – Cliges, translated by Burton Raffel
Chretien de Troyes – Lancelot, translated by Burton Raffel
Chretien de Troyes – Yvain, translated by Burton Raffel
Chretien de Troyes – Perceval, translated by Burton Raffel
The Vulgate Cycle, including Lancelot of the Lake, The Quest of the Holy Grail, and The
Death of Arthur
Gottfried von Strassburg – Tristan, translated by A.T. Hatto
Wolfram von Eschenbach – Parzival, translated by A.T. Hatto
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by W.S. Merwin or Simon Armitage
The Alliterative Morte D’Arthur, translated by Simon Armitage
Sir Thomas Mallory – Le Morte D’Arthur
Alfred, Lord Tennyson – Idylls of the King
Mark Twain – A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Richard Wagner – Lohengrin (opera)
Richard Wagner – Tristan and Isolde (opera)
Richard Wagner – Parsifal (opera)
Monty Python – Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail (film)

-----
Basically, the two most essential of essential authors for this particular mythology are Sir
Thomas Mallory and Chretien de Troyes.

Chretien’s poems are perhaps the best works of literature as literature to come out of the
Arthurian tradition, which he, to a large degree, extended and popularized. He added the
Lancelot and Holy Grail stories, for example.

But the near definitive compilation of Arthurian stories is Sir Thomas Mallory’s Morte
D’Arthur. Most contemporary versions of Arthur are based on this book. However,
Malory presents some issues for the modern reader. The earlier part of his book is pretty
boring. There are some classic stories in this part, like the Sword in the Stone and the
Lady of the Lake episodes, and Morgan La Fay’s villainy livens things up from time to
time, but mostly it’s just one damn battle (or tournament) after another, with very little to
differentiate them. The problem is compounded because you are working through all this
in quite archaic prose. It is only towards the end, especially with the “Lancelot and
Guinevere” and “Death of Arthur” sections, that things really start to pick up. So, you
might want to consider a modernized version. I would strongly recommend Peter
Ackroyd’s adaptation for a first go. He cuts out the boring and repetitive stuff, while
scrupulously keeping all the most famous and memorable stories, all the while making
sure you actually understand what is going on. It is a compulsive read. Keith Baines too
is an excellent, straightforward modern language Morte. He keeps everything, including
the boring bits, but his language is a bit more dignified and his characterizations have a
bit more punch than Ackroyd. You might want to switch to him, or even try out the
original, for the last two sections.

-----

The Tristan legend was originally separate, but came to be associated with Arthur.
Gottfried is excellent. So is Wagner.

If I had to pick literary works besides Malory and Chretien, I would go with Tennyson.
Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin and Parsifal are superb. Monty Python is hilarious.

Mostly avoid T.H. White. The related musical Camelot and the film made from it are
mediocre. Disney’s Sword in the Stone isn’t a terrible introduction to Arthur for kids
though.

Aside from the Monty Python, most Arthurian films are not very good.

-----

I don’t know much about secondary material on the Arthurian stories. Much of Arthurian
scholarship focusses on historical issues, or traces the development of the legend over
time. In addition, the characters in Arthurian literature are not as symbolically weighted
as, say, the Greek or Nordic gods, so I’m not sure if interpretation is as necessary for
them. However, if you want to a good general introduction, Dorsey Armstrong’s audio
lectures, King Arthur: History and Legend, are really helpful in making sense out of the
tangle of Arthurian material. Richard Barber’s book King Arthur: Hero and Legend is
another good short intro, if you prefer a book.

Out of all the Arthurian stories The Grail Story has tended to attract the most attention
among interpreters. There are books by Richard Barber, Roger Sherman Loomis, Emma
Jung & Marie-Louise von Franz, and Jesse L. Weston (her book From Ritual to Romance
was a big influence on T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland). I haven’t read any of this stuff, so I
can’t tell you how worthwhile any of it is.

-----

Celtic Myths

This is probably the third most important mythology to be familiar with for the
understanding of European poetry. It is particularly relevant to Yeats, Eliot and Heaney.
However, these myths were perhaps most influential in Europe through the not entirely
authentic adaptations of James MacPherson under the name Ossian. Nevertheless, these
poems inspired quite the cult following in 18th century Europe, provoking, for example,
Mendelssohn to write his Hebrides Overture (Fingal’s Cave).

Marie Heaney – Over Nine Waves

Philip Freeman – Celtic Mythology
Jeffrey Gantz – Early Irish Myths and Sagas
The Book of Invasions
The Tain, translated by Thomas Kinsella
Book of the Elders, translated by Ann Dooley and Harry Roe
Sweeney Astray, translated by Seamus Heaney
The Mabinogi, translated by Patrick K. Ford
The Book of the Cailleach, edited by Gearóid Ó Crualaoich

-----

Irish mythology can be divided up into four main cycles:

1. the Mythological Cycle - deals with the gods and their coming to Ireland.
2. the Ulster Cycle – mainly about the hero Cu Chulainn
3. the Fenian Cycle - mainly about Fionn Mac Cumhaill/Finn MacCool/Fingal, and his
son Oisin/Ossian.
4. the Historical Cycle – set in the time when Christianity was starting to make its way
through Ireland, the most well-known stories are about Mad King Sweeney.

The best broad retelling of all the different myth cycles is Marie Heaney’s Over Nine
Waves (yes, Seamus’ wife). Her book also includes many important, but otherwise
scattered, tales, which are not a part of longer works, like the Tain or the Book of the
Elders. However, her work does not include anything from the Historical Cycle.

Philip Freeman also has a good compendium.

Then you might follow up with Jeffrey Gantz’s anthology for Penguin. I would
supplement this with a secondary work, Miranda Aldhouse-Green’s The Celtic Myths, as
basic explanation is in short supply in Heaney and Gantz.

After that I would go right to the most important books for the Mythological, Ulster,
Fenian, and Historical cycles: The Book of Invasions, The Tain, The Book of the Elders
and Sweeney Astray respectively. They don’t contain all the tales, but they are the most
essential works.

The Mabinogion (or Mabinogi) is our other main source of early Celtic mythology, this
time through the Welsh tradition. Ford’s translation is a little better than Gantz’s, but
does not include the Welsh Arthurian material.

There are other myths as well, having to do with the Cailleach, a mother goddess,
sometimes benevolent and sometimes not. But these tend not to be associated with any of
the major Celtic myth cycles.

There are also a lot of Celtic folktales. Well known collections include those by Joseph
Jacobs, W.B. Yeats, Peter Berresford Ellis, and Henry Glassie (Pantheon).

-----

For secondary literature, Miranda Aldhouse-Green (sometimes as just Miranda Green),

Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, Proinsias Mac Cana, Alwyn and Brinley Rees, Mark Williams
and H.R. Ellis Davidson.

-----

Norse Myths

This mythology has had less impact on poetry and literature in the West than the Greek or
Celtic myths, but it has certainly captured the popular imagination. Of course, it has also
been the inspiration behind Wagner’s Ring cycle.

The Poetic Edda, translated by Jeramy Dodds or Lee M. Hollander

Snorri Sturluson – The Prose Edda, translated by Jesse L. Byock
Kevin Crossley-Holland – The Norse Myths
The Saga of the Volsungs, translated by Jesse L. Byock
The Nibelungenlied, translated by A.T. Hatto (prose) or Burton Raffel (verse)
Richard Wagner – The Ring of the Nibelungs (opera cycle)
Fritz Lang – The Nibelungen (film)
-----

The two most important texts here are the Prose Edda and Saga of the Volsungs.

The Prose Edda contains only stories of the gods, as does Crossley-Holland. This is the
stuff featuring Odin, Thor, Loki etc. For this material, Crossley-Holland’s retellings are
more complete, but is also a bit duller.

The Saga of the Volsungs (prose) and The Nibelungenlied (verse) are versions of the
same story, though there are often significant differences. This is the heroic story cycle,
featuring Sigurd/Sigfried, Brunhilda etc. that captured Wagner’s imagination. When it
comes to this material, the Saga is preferable to the Nibelungenlied.

The Poetic Edda contains the earliest versions of these myths and of the heroic stories of
Sigurd/Sigfried. All in verse. Of the better English verions, Dodds is the best as poetry,
but Hollander has better footnotes and has more of an Old Norse feel. I’d recommend at
least reading the Voluspa (Song of the Seeress).

However, to get anything out of the Poetic Edda, you will need to already understand the
stories. For the stories about the gods, I’d recommend Kevin Crossley-Holland’s
retelling, which is more comprehensive than the Prose Edda. For the stories of the heroes,
I’d recommend The Saga of the Volsungs and the short recap in Carolyne Larrington’s
The Norse Myths.

Wagner’s Ring operas are classic, and I’d recommend getting to them at some point. I
would start out with Solti for an audio recording and Barenboim for video. Parodies by
Anna Russell (comedienne) and Chuck Jones (animator) are great too.

Fritz Lang’s Nibelung movies are pretty good too.

The Marvel movies are dumb, but still entertaining, and they do help you start to keep
these characters straight in your head.

------

For secondary works, I would suggest starting out with H. R. Ellis Davidson’s Gods and
Myths of Northern Europe and Carolyne Larrington’s The Norse Myths, as these stories
won’t make a lot of sense unless you know a bit about who the different gods are and
what they do. Then take a look at her other work, as well as John Lindow, E.O.G.
Turville-Petre, Rudolf Simek, Paul Bauschatz, Neil S. Price, and Collin Cleary. Some of
the Youtube videos by Jackson Crawford can be helpful too.

-----
Egyptian Mythology

Egyptian mythology is probably more relevant to those interested in art rather than those
interested in literature. Ancient Egyptian myth has been mostly lost to the literary world
until the last couple hundred years, though Plutarch’s retelling of the Isis and Osiris myth
has been influential, and lots of Pseudo-Egyptian “stuff” has been knocking around
Europe since the time of the Greeks.

Here are the books I would start with:

Gary J. Shaw – The Egyptian Myths

Joyce Tyldesley – The Penguin Book of Myths and Legends of Ancient Egypt
The Egyptian Book of the Dead, translated by R.O. Faulkner and Ogden Goelet

Shaw’s book is by far the best place to start. He retells the stories well and (mostly)
comprehensively. He also explains who the most well-known gods and goddesses were,
and takes you through the elaborate geography of the Ancient Egyptian underworld.
Tyldesley is a much duller writer, but fills in some details missing from Shaw, including
some of the eye opening creation myths. She is much more readable after finishing Shaw.

I haven’t much enjoyed reading The Book of the Dead, but some people apparently find
it profound. It is much easier to understand after reading Shaw and getting to know which
god and goddess is which. Many of the other texts on which the retellings are based can
be found in Miriam Lichtheim’s three volume anthology of Egyptian texts. Plutarch’s
essay on Isis and Osiris is worth a read too.

Secondary literature would include Barry Kemp, Richard H. Wilkinson, Geraldine Pinch,
Jan Assmann, Edward Hornung, Donald Redford, and George Hart.

-----

Mesopotamian and Canaanite

The works here are all of particular interest for their impact on the writers of the Bible,
but are also well worth reading on their own.

Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia, translated by N.K. Sandars
Gilgamesh, translated by David Ferry, Stephen Mitchell, or N.K. Sanders
Innanna, translated by Kim Echlin
Stories from Ancient Canaan, translated by Michael D. Coogan and Mark S. Smith

-----

The first book included the Eneuma Elish, the Babylonian creation epic, as well as some
other valuable Mesopotamian works, and deals mostly with the Babylonian gods.
Gilgamesh, on the other hand, focuses on a human hero. It is probably the best known
work here.

-----

Secondary works would include those by Thorkild Jacobsen, Samuel Noah Kramer, Jean
Bottero and Jeremy Black.

-----

Charlemagne and Roland

The Song of Roland, translated by C.H. Sisson or W.S. Merwin

Luigi Pulci – Morgante
Matteo Maria Boiardo – Orlando Innamorato
Ludovico Ariosto – Orlando Furioso, translated by Barbara Reynolds
G.F. Handel – Orlando (opera)

Though not nearly as widely known as the King Arthur cycle, stories developed around
the legendary king Charlemagne and his heroic general Roland. By the time of the Old
French Song of Roland, history has already gotten quite distorted, but when you get to
the Italians, the whole things is completely out hand, and their poems are rather
outrageous fantasies.

-----

Other European national epics

Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney (England)

The Poem of the Cid, translated by Burton Raffel or W.S. Merwin (Spain)

Song of Igor’s Campaign (Russia)

The Kalevela, translated by Keith Bosley (Finland)

----

Christian Saints

Jacobus de Voraigne – The Golden Legend

Oxford Dictionary of Saints

-----

Robin Hood
You could go back to the original ballads, but I don’t think many of them are terribly
worthwhile. The best and most straightforward retelling is by Roger Lancelyn Green.
There are various film versions of wildly different quality too. The most famous features
Errol Flynn.

-----

Don Juan

Tirso de Molino – The Trickster of Seville, translated by Roy Campbell

Moliere – Don Juan, translated by Richard Wilbur
Lord Byron – Don Juan
Mozart – Don Giovanni (opera)

All of these are good, but Mozart’s version is the masterpiece. There is an excellent video
recording with John Eliot Gardiner conducting.

Byron’s poem is very good and very funny, but it is a wild parody that doesn’t much
bother with the original story.

-----

Faust

Christopher Marlowe – Dr. Faustus

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Faust, Parts I and II, translated by Stuart Atkins, David
Luke, or Louis MacNeice
Hector Berlioz – The Damnation of Faust (oratorio)
Charles Gounod – Faust (opera)
F.W. Murnau – Faust (film)

The original Faust story seems to be based on the legend of Simon Magus, originally told
by the Church Fathers Justin Martyr and Irenaeus and later expanded upon in the
apocryphal Acts of Peter. This tale wound its way through the Middle Ages and then
merged with the life of one Johann Faust, a medieval German astrologer and alchemist. A
chapbook of stories was published in Germany during the 1500s, and this was the basis
for the Marlowe and Goethe plays.

Marlowe is the best place to get the basic story. Goethe’s play is the greatest of all works
based on this story, but is also much more elaborate and self-conscious. The other works
listed here are all worthwhile too.

There are many works that allude to the Faust story, even if they are not a straightforward
retelling. The most prominent of these is Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus.
-----

Reynard the Fox

A European version of the trickster, with tales mainly of French origin. There are various
English versions by F.S. Ellis, Patricia Terry, D.D. R. Owen, and Jeffrey Simpson.

-----

Japanese Mythology

Japanese Tales, translatec by Royal Tylor for Pantheon.

Chushingura (puppet play), translated by Donald Keene

I’ve put the two main Japanese mythological works under Shinto scriptures. The
Chushingura is the story of the loyal 47 ronin, and is a central story in Japanese culture.

Michael Ashkenazi is a good place to go for a secondary source.

-----

Chinese Mythology

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, translated by Moss Roberts

Wu Cheng'en – Journey to the West

Chinese Fairy Tales and Fantasies, translated by Moss Roberts for Pantheon

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a sort of epic of China’s founding, while Journey
to the West features the well known tale of Monkey.

Anne M. Birrell is a good place to start for a secondary work.

-----

Indian Mythology

Most of Indian mythology has been included with the Hindu scriptures.

Joseph Jacobs made a collection of Indian Fairy Tales, and A.J. Ramanujan did the same
for Pantheon.

-----

Persian Mythology
Abolqasem Ferdowsi – Shahnameh, translated by Dick Davis
Nizami Ganjavi – Layla and Majnun

The Shahnameh is the most highly thought of retelling of Pre-Islamic Persian myths, and
features the legendary hero Rostand.

The story of Layla and Majnun is central in Iran and many surrounding cultures. It even
made its way into the West through an Eric Clapton song.

-----

Native North American

There are just so many different cultures here that I am not going to pretend that my
suggestions here are comprehensive or even particularly representative.

I’ve picked two particular cultures for a couple reasons. First, these are cultures from the
area I live in, and reflect links to the land that I know. Europe might as well be another
planet, in terms of the stories that go with it. Second, both of these cultures have
produced visual art of the very highest achievement. I’d single out Bill Reid for the
Haida, and Norval Morrisseau for the Ojibwe, but there are many others.

But since many of you live in places with very different Native American groups nearby,
I would suggest perhaps looking at investigating whatever culture is local to where you
are.

The Great Courses audio lectures Great Mythologies of the World has an extensive
section on Native American mythologies.

-----

Haida:

Ghandl – Nine Visits to the Myth World, translated by Robert Bringhurst

Skaay – Being in Being, translated by Robert Bringhurst
Bill Reid and Robert Bringhurst – The Raven Steals the Light

Secondary work: Robert Bringhurst, Hilary Stewart, J.H. Van Den Brink, Marianne
Boelscher.

-----

Ojibwe/Anishinaabe:

William Jones – Ojibwa Texts

Basil Johnston – Ojibwe Heritage
Basil Johnston – The Manitous
William Berens - Memories, Myths, and Dreams

Secondary work: Rupert Ross, Shawn Smallman, Theresa H. Smith, Michael Pomedli.

-----

African

Bamba Suso/Banna Kanute - Sunjata

Marcel Griaule – Conversations with Ogotemmeli
Roger Abrahams – African Folktales

This is wholly inadequate, focusing mostly on one particular area of Africa that has
managed to capture the imagination of Westerners more than others: Mali. The Sunjata
epic is a story told of a great king of the Mali Empire, and comes from griots in the
Mande culture. Marcel Griaule’s work focusses on the mythology of the Dogon, another
people in Mali, and was a strong influence on the African-American poet Jay Wright.
Some have questioned its authenticity.

But the fact is that African myths have not made their way into poetry of the same quality
that Greek or even Celtic myth has. So, it tends to get neglected. I doubt I would have
become interested in Dogon mythology were it not for Wright, which is no doubt highly
unjust to the African myths themselves.

The Great Courses audio lectures Great Mythologies of the World has an extensive
section on Native American mythologies.

Abrahams’ book is the African entry for the Pantheon Library.

-----

Fairy Tales

The four most influential fairy tale collections are:

The Arabian Nights, translated by Husain Haddawy (selections) or Malcolm C. Lyons

(complete)
Charles Perrault, translated by Jack Zipes, Angela Carter, or Christopher Betts
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, translated by Jack Zipes, Ralph Manheim, David Luke or
Philip Pullman
Hans Christian Anderson, translated by Tiina Nunnally

Zipes’s translation of Perrault also includes other French fairy tales, like Beauty and the
Beast. Betts translates the verse tales into verse.
All of these translations of Grimm have their virtues. Zipes is the only one to translate an
earlier, less bowdlerized, collection of the tales. David Luke bizarrely translates some
dialect tales from Grimm into Scots, while Pullman includes a few unfortunate
modernizations, like “weapon of mass destruction.” Manheim and Zipes are more
complete, while Luke and Pullman are selections of the most famous tales. But all are
good, and will do the job well.

-----

Many English fairy have become quite famous as well. There are collections by Joseph
Jacobs and Katharine Briggs:

Joseph Jacobs – English Fairy Tales

Katharine Briggs – British Folk Tales and Legends

-----

During the 19th century, the work of Perrault and the Grimms set off a mania for folk tale
collecting. So, you have a lot of national collections, many of which are translated into
English in the Pantheon Library.

The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library:

Arab
French
Irish
Norwegian
Latin America
Japanese
African-American
African
Legends and Tales of the American West
Northern Tales
Yiddish
India
American Indian

A couple of collections not in the Pantheon Library, but very similar in format:

Italo Calvino, ed. – Italian Folktales

Lone Thygesen Blecher and George Blecher, eds. – Swedish Folktales

There is also the Folktales of the World series from the University of Chicago:

India
China
Japan
Israel
Ireland
England
Norway
Germany
Greece
Egypt
Mexico
Chile

-----

I should mention another folklore collection:

Joel Chandler Harris – Uncle Remus Stories

Harris’ work stand in an equivocal position. A white Southerner who collected black
folklore, his work is controversial today, including his use of black dialect. Nonetheless,
his work has been influential and there are stories only available here. Roger Abrahams’
volume in Pantheon, for example, does not include some of the more famous ones.

-----

The work of the Grimms and the translation of the Arabian Nights into French also set off
a lesser trend of writing original tales in imitation. Hans Christian Andersen is the most
famous of these writers, but he was not the only one. Washington Irving is known for his
Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. George MacDonald and Oscar Wilde
did some good work in this area too. In the 20th century, many revisionists rewrote
traditional fairy tales, often with the purpose of making comment on contemporary
society. Very few of these have successfully challenged the status of their originals, but
the versions of Angela Carter are something of an exception.

Washington Irving – The Sketch Book

George MacDonald – Fairy Tales
Oscar Wilde – The Happy Prince and Other Stories
Angela Carter – The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

I am generally not all that impressed with much of the secondary literature on fairy tales,
which is often ferociously ideological, but Marina Warner and Katharine Briggs are a
good place to start.

-----

Novels and Stories

There are adult several novels and story collections that seem to have taken on mythic
resonance in our culture:

Miguel de Cervantes – Don Quixote

John Bunyan – Pilgrim’s Progress
Jonathan Swift – Gulliver's Travels
Daniel Defoe – Robinson Crusoe
Voltaire - Candide
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – The Sorrows of Young Werther
Victor Hugo – Les Miserables, Notre Dame de Paris
Alexander Dumas – The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask
Jules Verne – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Around the World in 90 Days
E.T.A Hoffmann – Tales, especially The Nutcracker
Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, Great
Expectations
Robert Louis Stevenson – Treasure Island, Kidnapped, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Bram Stoker – Dracula
James Fennimore Cooper – Last of the Mohicans
Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter
Herman Melville – Moby Dick
Mark Twain – Huckleberry Finn
Edgar Allen Poe – Tales
F. Scott Fitzgerald – The Great Gatsby
Franz Kafka – The Castle, The Trial, The Metamorphosis
Sholem Aleichem – Tevye the Dairyman
Hermann Hesse – Siddhartha
Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Grey
Joseph Conrad – Heart of Darkness
George Orwell – 1984, Animal Farm
Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
H.G. Wells – The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Island of
Dr. Moreau
William Golding – Lord of the Flies
John Steinbeck – The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men
Robert Penn Warren – All the King's Men
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid's Tale

There are also plays and musical dramas that have done the same:

Edmond Rostand – Cyrano de Bergerac

Thornton Wilder – Our Town
Richard Wagner – The Flying Dutchman
As is to be expected from stories with mythological resonance, many of these works have
gone on to make excellent films, though obviously some versions have been better than
others. However, even if a good film is available, I would still recommend reading these.
Just don’t feel too guilty if you’ve only seen the film.

-----

Children’s Stories

Lewis Carroll – Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass

Rudyard Kipling – Kim, Just So Stories, Puck of Pook's Hill, The Jungle Books
J.M. Barrie – Peter Pan
Kenneth Grahame – The Wind in the Willows
Carlo Collodi – Pinocchio
C.S. Lewis – Narnia Books
J.R.R. Tolkien – The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings
L. Frank Baum – The Wizard of Oz
Johann David Wyss – The Swiss Family Robinson
Johanna Spyri – Heidi
Kate Douglas Wiggin – Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Antoine de Saint-Exupery – The Little Prince
Louisa May Alcott - Little Women
L.M Montgomery – Anne of Green Gables series
Francis Hodgson Burnett – The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy
Edith Nesbit – many novels
Beatrix Potter – Peter Rabbit Tales
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
Eleanor H. Porter – Polyanna
Anna Sewell – Black Beauty
Thomas Hughes - Tom Brown's School Days
Johnny Gruelle – Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy
Jack London – The Call of the Wild, Wild Fang
George MacDonald – The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind,
Lilith, Phantastes
Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda
E.B White – Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little
Madeline L’Engle – A Wrinkle in Time
Richard Adams – Watership Down
Ursula K. Le Guin – The Earthsea Trilogy
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter novels
Astrid Lindgren – Pippi Longstocking
Tove Jansson - Moomin Books
A.A. Milne – Winnie the Pooh
Peter S. Beagle – The Last Unicorn
Michael Ende – The Neverending Story
William Goldman – The Princess Bride
Norman Juster – The Phantom Tollbooth
Philip Pullman – His Dark Materials

This is a somewhat arbitrary list of classic children’s stories, many of whom have quite a
significant resonance in our culture. I’ve restricted myself to books that were mostly text,
though I’ve stretched things for a couple of them. Anything that is in the Puffin Classics
series is here (excluding retellings), but I haven’t restricted myself to those books.

Some of these are better watched as movies. The Wizard of Oz and Winnie-the-Pooh are
better in that format, as is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In some cases, it is fairly
indifferent between book and movie, and in others it is better to simply read the book.
Sometimes, both are good but wildly different, as is the case with Pinocchio or The
Jungle Book.

-----

Miscellaneous

There are many adult science fiction and fantasy writers who do very good work with
mythic type material, but whose stories don’t seem to have quite taken on a life of their
own like a good myth does. Among these, I would include: Sir Walter Scott, James
Hogg, Charles Maturin, Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Jeremias Gotthelf, Adalbert
Stifter, Guy de Maupassant, George MacDonald, William Morris, G.K. Chesterton,
Mervyn Peake, David Lindsay, Karel Capek, H.P. Lovecraft, Jorge Luis Borges,
Stanislaw Lem, Ursula K. LeGuin, Kurt Vonnegut, Russell Hoban, Philip K. Dick,
Thomas M. Disch, Thomas Pynchon, Ishmael Reed, John Crowley, Neil Gaiman.

-----

There are also a lot of classic crime writers whose work is of note: Wilkie Collins, Arthur
Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Daphne du Maurier, Graham Greene,
Josephine Tey, Patricia Highsmith, Dashiell Hammet, James M. Cain, Raymond
Chandler, Elmore Leonard, James Ellroy, Truman Capote, Georges Simenon, Umberto
Eco, Leonardo Sciascia and others. Most of these are better encountered in their (often
excellent) film or TV versions.

-----

There are various other mythic stories that have become well known though their film or
television versions, though some started off as books or comics. Among them I would
include: Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian, King Kong, Godzilla, Zorro,The Lone Ranger,
James Bond, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek, Star Wars, X-Files, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, Aliens, Terminator, Mad Max, Dr. Who, Hitchhiker`s Guide to the Galaxy,
Superman, Batman, Spiderman, X-Men, The Avengers, The Matrix, Blade Runner, 2001,
Night of the Living Dead/Zombies. A few of these will become classics, but I am
doubtful about many of them. For most of them, I’d stick with the film or TV versions.