Hardy and Myth

Abstract

Myth has become such a mazy academic subject, and the term is used and misused with such a variety of meaning that it is essential at the outset to state its implications for the present subject. I assume that myths are religious in origin, and relate to gods or similar personalized powers, that they were thought to reveal inescapable truths about the universe and nature, and that, even though their narrative features are fictitious, they can be used imaginatively by virtue of their original significance to reinforce or symbolize aspects of life.