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featured book review: may 2003 Classic Myths to Read Aloud by William F. Russell, Ed.D. for Ages 7-14 (Crown 1989) I may, at some point in the unimaginably distant future, forgive the Walt Disney Corporation for what they've done. Who knows, I just may. And Jesus may come back too, but I ain't waitin' up nights. Disney has done so much so well, a fact I mustn't fail to acknowledge in my rush to condemn them to the lake of fire. They've courageously embraced darkness as a part of human experience, for example --- real darkness, not faux darkness --- and our children's imaginative landscapes have been all the richer for it. Bambi's mother dies, after all, and Snow White is poisoned by the chillingly evocative evil queen posing as a harmless crone. The dark side is a real threat, not a paper tiger, which makes its eventual defeat a genuine victory, not a foregone conclusion. Why, then, did these gifted storytellers transform the Pegasus of my boyhood into a dimwitted klutz, Hades into a wisecracking acetylene torch, and Icarus into a frizzy-haired survivor (yes, SURVIVOR) of his hubristic flight? I'm talking about the animated movie HERCULES, which is too often the first exposure of a new generation of children to classical mythology. It's actually far more clever and imaginative than I'd anticipated, to tell the truth, but it permanently compromised my kids' visions of the epic myths. As a boy I remember holding my breath as Bellerophon caught his first glimpse of the untouchable, legendary Pegasus, gleaming white, muscled shoulders, wings gradually folding after his landing in a sheltered grove... Good luck recovering that kind of wonder after they see the movie. And, since part of my interest in the Greek and Roman myths is my kids' ability to see the biblical myths as more of the same, it's important to keep them on the same plane. There is, after all, no Disney movie with a rapping Moses and a goofy-eyed Christ. For them, it's the 'Prince of Egypt' treatment, allowing those stories to retain their epic luster, their mythic grandeur. To restore the balance a bit, let's take a look at three good retellings of the classical myths, all geared toward older kids and adults. Russell's CLASSIC MYTHS TO READ ALOUD is an effort inspired by nothing more than the intention of restoring the nobility and imaginative texture of the classic tales. The author (awkwardly touted as an "educational expert" in the subtitle) makes a point of this in the preface, noting that he has chosen language more formal and at times more demanding than the slangy banter that has become commonplace in recent retellings. He's right: his word choices and sentence structures are reminiscent of Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY (see below) and are indeed an improvement in that way. He provides pronunciation guides for names and terms - a tremendous help - but there is often a problem of unfamiliar words coming so thick and fast that the flow of storytelling is interrupted by too-frequent needs for explanation: "Hades became lord of the Underworld, where the souls of the dead reside; Poseidon took dominion over all the oceans and the seas; while Zeus himself became sovereign over heaven and earth." Not counting the names themselves, there are no fewer than three words in that one sentence that will almost certainly require a stop-and-define: reside, dominion, and sovereign. And this passage is from the section of myths for ages FIVE and up! In no way is a single myth in this collection appropriate for any but the most precocious five-year olds. Seven is a reasonable minimum age, but the collection really holds its value all the way through age fourteen. There is also a confusing alternation of Greek and Roman names from story to story that necessitates further explanation still ("Oh, Jupiter? That's the same as Zeus. And Juno is the same as Hera. And Mercury is Hermes..."). That said --- the book is really a tremendous gem for several reasons: the pronunciation guides; the accurate timings for each; the richness of the imagery and language; a priceless passage at the end of each myth that explains some of the Greek and Latin word roots found in the myth that connect to our own language; the inclusion of several condensed epics, such as the Golden Fleece narrative and the Aeneid, in chaptered segments; and the accuracy and care of the retellings. Two other recommended collections of myths: D'AULAIRE'S BOOK OF GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHS, a bit older in ways good and less so, is a slightly more user-friendly, child-friendly version of the same tales. Less detailed (again, for better and worse), it is more readable without Disnifying (I tried spelling that six different ways) and includes adequate illustrations. This volume is also available in an audio version with celebrity readers doing a credible job. A nice middle ground between Russell and Hollywood. Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY is the ultimate, dazzling classic volume for capturing the sparkle and sensation of the myths in accurate detail for mature readers. There's no way to describe Hamilton's approach better than 'scholarly love.' Though it includes a good number of myths, its greatest value is as an encyclopedia of the gods, goddesses, demigods, heroes and their basic mythic history. An encyclopedia of sorts, yes, but the most readable and engaging encyclopedia you'll ever see. If a child is devoted to the myths but ready to move beyond D'Aulaire and Russell, wrap up a copy of the Hamilton - after reading it yourself. |
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