科学、宗教、哲学、文学、心理学といったさまざまな学問的見地から神話を分析する本書は、過去300年にわたる神話研究を振り返るべく、アルベール・カミュ、クロード・レヴィーストロース、ロラン・バルト、カール・グスタフ・ユング、ジークムント・フロイトといった著名な思想家らの取り組みにも目を向けます。改訂新版は、神話研究の未来について、認知科学との相互作用やガイアに関する神話が意味するところ、また口承文学と神話の違いに関する考察などを盛り込んでいます。
   

• Looks at the origins of the study of myths, and how they have been applied to the arts and sciences
• Reveals how a variety of theories can be applied to ancient myths, but also to modern mythology
• Explores the function of myths, and their subject matter
• Considers the work of prominent thinkers such as Albert Camus, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Roland Barthes, C. G. Jung, and Sigmund Freud

New to this Edition:

• Considers myth as modern science, including 20th and 21st century attempts to find evidence of astronomical observations, of volcanoes, and of other natural disasters
• Looks at myth as a story, by considering the latest approaches to narrative theory
• Examines myth and its interaction with society, including nationalism and fascism
• Explores the approaches of cognitive science to myth

  
Where do myths come from? What is their function and what do they mean? 
 
In this Very Short Introduction Robert Segal introduces the array of approaches used to understand the study of myth. These approaches hail from disciplines as varied as anthropology, sociology, psychology, literary criticism, philosophy, science, and religious studies. Including ideas from theorists as varied as Sigmund Freud, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Albert Camus, and Roland Barthes, Segal uses the famous ancient myth of Adonis to analyse their individual approaches and theories. 
 
In this new edition, he not only considers the future study of myth, but also considers the interactions of myth theory with cognitive science, the implications of the myth of Gaia, and the differences between story-telling and myth.