Can there be a trans-national mythology?
Over 24 hours spent driving to and from the mountains (plus several more hours spent solo hiking trails), I nearly binged Mythos by Stephen Fry and Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. Both are sensational reads and are quickly proving helpful as I slowly work through the Western Canon.
But both have me questioning the seeming lack of mythology for the modern American. Case in point: the reinvigorated debate over the villains of WWII, which, in part, casts doubt on the post-war consensus that serves as a myth for the West. This raises the potential value of a trans-national, not just national, mythology.
For example, Greek, Jewish, and Norse mythology all contain a human man and woman—a husband and wife, father and mother—through whom all of mankind can be traced, with, of course, special emphasis on the lineage of the myth-telling people.
Narrative analogues across these competing myths occur in surprising abundance, and yet it feels difficult, if not impossible, to suggest that a homogenized mythology could tell the story of mankind in a way that preserves ancient wisdom for modern people navigating a globalized existence.
What do you think? Are Americans (and other Westerners) starved for mythology?
Is a trans-national mythology possible? What would be lost by combining the most-shared elements of existing mythologies into an all-encompassing tale of human origin and meaning? Who, if anyone, is qualified to architect such a mythology? And how, given the character driven nature of myth, could it effectively incorporate the world’s cultural plurality?
I've felt the absence of myth in the U.S. For me this shows with the founding fathers, especially George Washington, because there is some mythologizing (like the cherry tree), but too much historical knowledge for it to really take root or be accepted. The U.S is too recent with its origins too firmly in an age of Reason to have a real mythology of its own, which I think is why we're so fascinated with other people's mythologies.
When I was on vacation in Greece, a tour guide said something along the lines of "you Americans act like you don't have much history but there's the American Indians." Which stuck with me because of how foreign of a viewpoint it felt like. To me there are multiple obvious reasons for not feeling a connection to the mythology of Native Americans. America has mythology, the U.S.A, not as much.
And there are entire rich tapestries of mythology with long histories and many layers of cultural exchange you miss out on just looking at 'the West.' Though when you look deeper you see there isn't a complete division when you have things like the syncretization of Ogun and Saint George or archangels being referred to as the Four Heavenly Kings.
I think drawing narrow impassable lines between x mythology and y mythology does not at all reflect how mythology or culture in general works. You can't neatly divide Greek and Egyptian mythology once you reach the likes of Zeus-Ammon. One thing I've found interesting ever since hearing about it is a Shinto shrine in Hawaii where the kami enshrined there include Amaterau Omikami, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and King Kamehameha. Quite the diverse line up.
But I don't think an all encompassing mythology would work or be something to aim for. Mythology is rooted in its specific culture and local folklore will inevitably diverge from any official 'canon' (which is not even a thing in most religions). A homogeneity of myth is a homogeneity of thought and culture.