On mythic criticism

Multicultural education in the little red schoolhouse: A rhetorical exploration of ideological justification and mythic repair

“…NOTES 1 In some scholarly treatments, only archetypal myths would count as myth at all. Rowland (1990) argues that myths must be heroic, occur outside of normal historical time and place, and rely heavily on archetypal language (pp. 103-105).…”

“…1 Traditionally, scholars have distinguished archetypal from political/cultural myths (e.g., Bass & Cherwitz, 1978;Lee, 1995;Rowland, 1990;Rushing & Frentz, 1991). Archetypal myths are composed of "socalled universal symbols" that "... can be explained ... as ... responses to shared human experience" (Rushing & Frentz, 1991, pp.…”

“…"Myths possess," Rowland (1990) writes, "a unique power to symbolically 'solve' social problems not possessed by other symbolic forms, because the rules of discursive logic do not apply in a mythic story. In fact, in myth inconsistent events may both be true" (p. 103).…”

Southern Paternal Generationalism and the Rhetoric of the Drive-By Truckers

“…Basically, the American Dream proves more idealistic than realistic (Hughes, 2004;Rowland, 1990). Certainly, the characters in DBT's stories initially buy into the myth.…”

Reimagining the Self-Made Man: Myth, Risk, and the Pokerization of America

“…Myths are important because they provide symbolic solutions to problems and psychological crises facing society (Rowland, 1990). It is important to note that a myth does not actually need to solve a problem, so long as it provides a symbolic solution that allows the audience to feel as though a crisis or tension is resolved.…”