The Politics of Myth
In stories, images and casual references, around the names of mythic figures (whether they really existed or not) there cluster through time a remarkably changing series of ideas, concepts, obsessions, all with some social and so political meaning. To look at these myths will both indicate just how much politics, past and present, there is about in our world, and how strange some of the past politics can be – and that might even make us wonder if our own politics of myth is always all that sensible ? The figures of mythic politics can be turned inside out and read as examples of how people, even today, find meaning, consolation, escape, in the myths they use so casually and so much. The topics chosen for examination here are a set of myths that are still with us, have changed significantly over time, and may well still be changing in our own mythic minds.
week 1
12th of June 2012
King Arthur (and Guinevere and Lancelot and Galahad and Morgan)
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week 2
19th of June 2012
Joan of Arc (and the English, and the French, the Inquisition and the many later versions)
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week 3
26th of June 2012
Shakespeare (and the Earl of X and Jonson and Garrick and cultural capital)
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week 4
10th of July 2012
Bennelong (and Boney and Jandawarra)
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week 5
17th of July 2012
Ned Kelly (and the family and the police and the continuing debate)
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week 6
24th of July 2012
Sherlock Holmes (and Watson and Irene Adler and the countless imitations)
