Twitter is great, because people share so much stuff, this morning I saw a tweet from Jyri Engeström, of Jaiku fame, and his tweets always gets my attention.
This morning even more so, this is what @Jyri tweeted:
For all you interested in the Mythology Club, @kio_pio who started it has created a page explaining how it works: http://bit.ly/cvK7Cu
That resonated with me, so I checked out the site’s about page http://mythologyclubnyc.wordpress.com/about/, the basic idea is outlined the abstract:
What Is Mythology Club?
Mythology Club is a sporadic gathering of people who like to tell and listen to stories. It’s myths as they were meant to be, it’s a sociable way to get some literary and historical awesomeness in your life.Here’s how it works. We get together for an evening of mythological storytelling and lots of booze. So far it’s been a group of 15-20 people, with between 4-6 people as storytellers each evening.
If you’re a teller, you pick your favorite myth/classical tale (from any culture), and you tell your rendition of it to the assembled throng. The definition of myth is loose. It could be from a classical tradition like Greek, Egyptian, Norse. It could also be the Ballad of Stagger Lee, or your own whopping fish story if it’s personal classic. The main thing is that it has a ritual quality that comes from repeated telling, and you make it yours. You don’t have to be an expert storyteller. We’re a friendly lot.
Doesn’t that sound like great idea? I mean I know of similar concepts, like BestTellers, but they tend to be less inviting, and the storytellers tend to be professional
Mythology Club has a BarCampy feel to it, and it might, eventually, turn us into pros.
So who’s first to syndicate this? I think Mythology Club Copenhagen has a nice ring to it, and YES I’ve already picked my first myth, for hints look here: Kong Skjold 😉
2 replies on “Mythology Club People telling stories, the old fashioned way”
You might be interested in the Mythological RoundTables, a network of myth-based discussion and social groups around the world, inspired by the work of Joseph Campbell. Check out http://www.jcf.org for more info. We have one here in Joshua Tree CA that meets every month and it’s great—storytelling, talk about the stories, and the stories within the stories. And cake of course:).
You seem to be able to read my mind, I was just recently introduced to Campbell in the context of the mono-myth, the lecturer was using the Myth of King Oedipus to illustrate the basic concept of the “hero’s journey”. Thank you for sharing!