Fate would be a different essay, so I won't get too deeply into it. My feeling is that in Greek mythology, those who defy their fate often bring it about in their attempt to defy it. Fate seems overpowering for mere humans. I'm less sure about that in the Irish and Norse; I'd have to reread instances of fates/wyrds being used there, as I don't remember too much of that with Cuchulain, and am sadly lacking in my Norse.
As for the issues of faith: in many ways it's the difference between Williams and Tolkien. Charles Williams makes no bones about his books having Christianity as a force for good, and those who embrace logic also embrace Christianity (which in itself is interesting). His books are incredibly metaphysical, but in a philosophical way that, while drawing on elements of the supernatural like Tarot and the Philosopher's Stone, seems to draw on myth only where convenient. I don't mean to say that Williams moralizes; in fact, I think he's brilliant. But his mysticism is--dare I say it?--more modern seeming. Even where he introduces ideas like coinherence, it doesn't have that sense of the largeness--the epic scale--that backs up my concept of using mythology in fiction.
Then again, it could be because I'm a bit prejudiced about Christianity, having grown up inside of it. I truly enjoy what I consider Christian Mythology (see anything relating to Glastonbury, England), but personal faith that goes along with a religion seems to fall in a seperate category from even that. If this feeling is caused because I'm further inside of Christianity than other mythologies, then I'm a bit wrong, and faith really is a matter of mythology. But it may be that difference between personal and epic/cosmic that conjures up some boundary for me.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-09-04 03:34 am (UTC)As for the issues of faith: in many ways it's the difference between Williams and Tolkien. Charles Williams makes no bones about his books having Christianity as a force for good, and those who embrace logic also embrace Christianity (which in itself is interesting). His books are incredibly metaphysical, but in a philosophical way that, while drawing on elements of the supernatural like Tarot and the Philosopher's Stone, seems to draw on myth only where convenient. I don't mean to say that Williams moralizes; in fact, I think he's brilliant. But his mysticism is--dare I say it?--more modern seeming. Even where he introduces ideas like coinherence, it doesn't have that sense of the largeness--the epic scale--that backs up my concept of using mythology in fiction.
Then again, it could be because I'm a bit prejudiced about Christianity, having grown up inside of it. I truly enjoy what I consider Christian Mythology (see anything relating to Glastonbury, England), but personal faith that goes along with a religion seems to fall in a seperate category from even that. If this feeling is caused because I'm further inside of Christianity than other mythologies, then I'm a bit wrong, and faith really is a matter of mythology. But it may be that difference between personal and epic/cosmic that conjures up some boundary for me.