Olaf Stapledon had a much more exalted conception of myths. See:
"A true myth..." had to express "...the highest admirations possible..." Such definitions can become circular. In Philosophy, there is the example of the "No true Scotsman" argument, i.e.:
"All Scotsmen wear kilts."
"But Jim's a Scotsman and he doesn't wear a kilt."
"Then he's not a true Scotsman!"
A myth, surely, is just any universally known story, whether admirable or not? Consider Thor.
In the case of time travel, the modern myths are the Time Traveller, the Doctor and (maybe) Superman flying faster than light, rotating counterclockwise. (Superman is a myth anyway.) Important though they are to us here, Poul Anderson's Time Patrolmen and Jack Havig have not become myths although they are certainly significant literary successors of Wells' Time Traveller. Maybe film adaptations will make some difference?
2 comments:
If you wore a kilt in 18th-century Edinburgh, you risked being mobbed. Lowlanders didn't like highlanders!
I have thought of a way to unite the Scots. If a Westminster government banned the wearing of the kilt, then the entire male population of Scotland would march down the Motorway to London, wearing their traditional clan tartans specially created for the occasion if necessary.
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