With The Modern Myths, brilliant science communicator Philip Ball
spins a new yarn. From novels and comic books to B-movies, it is an epic
exploration of literature, new media and technology, the nature of
storytelling, and the making and meaning of our most important tales.
Myths are usually seen as stories from the depths of time--fun and
fantastical, but no longer believed by anyone. Yet, as Philip Ball
shows, we are still writing them--and still living them--today. From
Robinson Crusoe and Frankenstein to Batman, many stories written
in the past few centuries are commonly, perhaps glibly, called "modern
myths." But Ball argues that we should take that idea seriously. Our
stories of Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Sherlock Holmes are
doing the kind of cultural work that the ancient myths once did. Through
the medium of narratives that all of us know in their basic outline and
which have no clear moral or resolution, these modern myths explore some
of our deepest fears, dreams, and anxieties. We keep returning to these
tales, reinventing them endlessly for new uses. But what are they really
about, and why do we need them? What myths are still taking shape today?
And what makes a story become a modern myth?
In The Modern Myths, Ball takes us on a wide-ranging tour of our
collective imagination, asking what some of its most popular stories
reveal about the nature of being human in the modern age.
