David Leeming Knihy

James Baldwin has become an American literary icon. He explored issues of race and racism in America, class distinction, and sexual difference in works that are now part of the canon, such as "Go Tell It on the Mountain", "Giovanni's Room", "Another Country", "The Fire Next Time", and "The Evidence of Things Not Seen". A gay African American writer who was born in Harlem, he found the freedom to express himself living in exile in Paris. When he returned to America to cover the civil rights movement, he became an activist and controversial spokesman for the movement. In this indispensable biography, David Leeming creates an intimate portrait of a complex, troubled, driven, and brilliant man. He plumbs every aspect of Baldwin's life: his relationships with the unknown and the famous, including Beauford Delaney, Richard Wright, Lorraine Hansberry, Marlon Brando, Harry Belafonte, Lena Horne, and childhood friend Richard Avedon; his expatriate years in France and Turkey; his gift for compassion and love; the public pressures that overwhelmed his quest for happiness; and his passionate battle for black identity, racial justice, and to "end the racial nightmare and achieve our country." -- From publisher's description

Exploring the significance of sex in various mythologies, David Leeming asserts that sexual themes are deeply embedded in cultural narratives, reflecting human obsessions and complexities. He examines figures like Gaia, whose reproductive acts may symbolize ancient matriarchal societies, and the Polynesian demigod Maui, whose exploits highlight the allure of sexual power. Through these myths, Leeming illustrates how sexual narratives serve multiple purposes, resonating with our own experiences and societal structures.

In this book, David Leeming analyses the Medusa in myth, history, philosophy, modern psychoanalysis, art, literature, feminism and the advertising industry

This is an A-Z dictionary of mythologies of the Asian continent. Major characters, places and events of Asian mythology, as well as certain relevant themes and cultural traditions are included.

The Handy Mythology Answer Book examines and explains, in plain English, numerous myths and mythology.

Written by David Leeming, one of the world's most trusted voices on mythology, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology is a lively, non-pedantic yet intellectually sound book that engages the reader and reveals the extraordinary depth and beauty of the world of myth.

A comprehensive yet concise overview of Native American mythologies.

This is an examination of the god archetype from Palaeolithic time to the present day. The essays gathered here relate issues of myth and gender to the use of the male as a metaphor for the great mystery of existence. The evolution of the male god is traced from servant of the goddess to patriarch.

Third revised edition, previously published in 1973 by Harper Collins, of a collection of texts stressing the universal themes of mythology. They range from the Bible to English literature, to C Jung and others, to illustrate the archetypal aspects of the universal hero. This edition includes heroine myths and an updated bibliography.

The mythologies of the world are collective cultural dreams, and as such should be analyzed first from cultural perspectives. How do myths of the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, for instance, reflect the realities of the Egyptian and Greek cultures? When compared, however, mythologies reveal certain universal themes or motifs that point to larger trans-cultural issues such as the place of the human species in creation or the nature of deity as a concept.World Mythology: A Very Short Introduction is organized around the universal motifs. Creation, the Flood, the Hero Quest, the Trickster/Culture Hero, the Pantheons, the High God, the Great Goddess. Veteran mythology scholar David Leeming examines examples of each motif from a variety of cultures--Greek, Egyptian, Norse, American Indian, African, Polynesian, Jewish, Christian, Hindu--treating them as reflections of the cultures that "dreamed" them. He compares and analyzes them, exposing their universal significance and creating a "world mythology."