Michel Faber. The Fire Gospel Melbourne: Text Publishing, 2008. [Book Review]

Since publishing its first edition in 2005, the Myths Series has presented a wide variety of volumes, each by different authors, which capture multivalent aspects of the mythic in literature. In the broadest terms, the qualities that make a tale mythic should include exploration of the connection between human and sacred worlds (tracing the metaphysical element to our lives, as Joseph Campbell urged) and explorations of narratives so pervasive that they work to structure the very way we think (as pointed out by Claude Lévi-Strauss). While the publishers may be accused of stretching this in their stated aim to convey tales of ‘universal and timeless stories,’ they can certainly be said to have succeeded in providing a richly textured set of examples that make mythic themes and concerns contemporary, exciting and valid, both as entertainment and as spiritual nourishment.