Once and Future Myths

Drawing from history, movies, pop culture, and his own life experience, filmmaker and writer Phil Cousineau shows how ancient myths continue to affect and shape our contemporary lives. Each chapter moves from the ancient to the modern, from the once, to the now, to the future. Chapters include both retellings of classical myths--"Sisyphus, Odysseus, Kronos--"along with new accounts of contemporary myths of time, cities, vampires, even baseball. Sisyphus is shown to be the inspiration for the French Resistance (and Cousineau's own struggles as a writer), Dionysus is made current by rock legend Jim Morrison, and new science and technology are laid at the feet of Hermes.Cousineau, long-time student of Joseph Cambell, makes a compelling case that myths--the enduring fantastical tales of gods and goddesses, heroines and heroes--provide a map by which to chart the stories of our own lives. In Once and Future Myths, he presents a unique path to personal growth with a deep examination of our lives in the context of the world's great myths. A tantalizing, delightfully personal travelogue through the landscape of some of the modern myths that shape and misshape our lives. --"Sam Keen, author of Fire in the Belly "Hardcover edition was winner of Science and Spirit Magazine's Best Book of 2001 award. "Cousineau is a master--"teaching us how to use the past to understand the present and map the future.