Topic Brainstorm

Universal myths (broad topic)

Many myth themes are present in numerous cultures, including but not limited to events such as The Great Flood, Atlantis, and the loss of a paradise world (like the Garden of Eden). This is fascinating! I always wonder if stories such as these sprang from a single event to be passed along through the spread of civilization throughout the generations. Vampires, dragons, and the belief in an inevitable Armageddon are also shared throughout time and space by a variety of cultures; were each of these concepts derivatives, or could similar thinking by similar people have independently produced them? In either case, the possibility for a project showcasing the evolution of one such legend across cultures is very tempting. It's a really broad topic, but could be tailored to work very well in a project scenario. Each story could focus on a separate myth, or the entire project could focus exclusively on a single topic.


Segal, Robert. “History of Religions.” History of Religions, vol. 32, no. 1, 1992, pp. 88–90. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1062727.

Uruk: the origin of writing

The Gilgamesh tablet is among the earliest surviving works of literature. 

Wikimedia commons

Origin myths (my favorite type) abound in every civilization, and the origin of writing could be such a fun story! I read a couple of books when I was much younger that first piqued my interest regarding Enkidu, Inanna, and Sumerian stories (Snow Crash, Vellum). Learning to read, or process information from representative markings, actually changes the structure of neuron connections within the human brain. Written language development in Sumerian culture represents a milestone in civilization, and could be a rich trove of material for a project. I need to do a lot more research before it's fleshed out, but what if the Sumerian gods bestowed "memes" on the people, conferring the benefit of written language while simultaneously rewriting the brain's plasticity, forever altering their course as a species?  The project could summarize the spread of writing throughout the world.

meme

mēm

noun

1. an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.

Duncan, Hal. Vellum: The Book of All Hours. Vol. 1. Del Rey, 2006.
Stephenson, Neal. Snow crash. Bragelonne, 2014.

Iterations

Some cultures believe gods can be created as needed, while others view the godhood as eternal and unending. The similarities between many gods of different cultures suggests, at least to me, that one god can have many faces throughout time and space, essentially the same entity while known by many names. I love the idea of gods evolving throughout centuries, wearing different masks and names but filling the same niche for the present civilization. However, since the onset of Christianity, the many god world has shrunk considerably. Where do gods go when they are no longer relevant? Do they remain intact, or begin to dissolve and weaken? Is there a massive retirement community divided by pantheon where millions of no longer relevant deities exist, waiting to be remembered once more? Neil Gaiman's work, both in The Sandman graphic novel series and his novel American Gods, contributed heavily to my interest in this subject, and a project based on this idea could present four eras of gods and the challenges they could face over time in a steadily shrinking worship market.

Gaiman, Neil. American gods. Edizioni Mondadori, 2014.
Gaiman, Neil. The Sandman (series). Vertigo. 1989-present.
Mencken, H.L. "Graveyard of Dead Gods".
http://www.graveyardofthegods.org/deadgods/graveyard.html

Norse cosmology

Histoire des peuples du nord, et des Danois et des Normands. Henry Wheaton, 1944. 

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One of the most interesting aspects I encountered in Gene Wolfe's The Wizard Knight fantasy series was his approach to the hierarchy existing between gods, humans and sprites. The nine realms of existence, tied together by the world tree of Yggdrasil, were separated not by a clear, physical, geographical boundary but rather planes of existence in most cases. The passage of time itself varied depending upon one's location in the nine realms, and spending a few minutes in a lower realm could represent years upon one's return. While humans idolized gods such as Odin, sprites (capable of infinite life) idolized humans on the basis of their fleeting and limited existence, much like we would celebrate a dog's existence. A set of stories could detail the memorable realms, inhabitants, and interactions between them.

Wolfe, Gene. The Wizard Knight (series). Tor Books. 2004.