Free standard shipping on all orders
  • Visa
  • Master Card
  • American Express
  • Apple Pay
  • Google Pay
  • JCB

Myths and Heroes in Creative Writing: Re-Reading and Remaking book cover

1st Edition

Myths and Heroes in Creative Writing Re-Reading and Remaking

By Adrian May Copyright 2026
144 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

144 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

144 Pages 1 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
Myths and Heroes in Creative Writing: Re-Reading and Remaking offers a comprehensive overview of myth throughout history. Exploring a variety of forms, Adrian May provides a framework for the practice and process of writing myths. This accessible guide discusses a rich and diverse range of literary examples across myth, theatre, poetry and criticism to make a clear and compelling case for... Read more

Acknowledgements

 

Part One: Introductory

Preface: The Mythic Wanderer

 

1. The Errant Way

 

2. The Human Pattern

 

Part Two: The Narrow Hero

3. Big Heroes Reduced

 

4. Portability: Genre; Wilderness

 

5. Writers not Wrong

 

Part Three: Ante-heroes

6. Ante, Mock, Anti

 

7. The Vanishing Grail

 

8. How to Disappear

 

9. Tarot and Tao

 

Part Four: Mythic alternatives

10. Decline of Folly

 

11. Confronting the hero-monster

 

12. Supernatural alternatives

 

Part Five: Postscripts

13. Ceremonies of Innocence

 

14. Ritual and Initiation

 

Index

Biography

Adrian May is Community Fellow and former Deputy Director of Creative Writing at the University of Essex, UK. He is the author of three previous books about creativity: Myth and Creative Writing (2011), The Magic of Writing (2018), Tradition in Creative Writing (2021) and Boot Sale Harvest (non-fiction, 2023). He has also published several collections of poems and songs, including Full Fathom Folk (2022) and Grail Island (2025), the latter inspired by some of the material in this book.

Add to Cart