# The Man Behind the Myth: Should We Question the Hero’s Journey? - Los Angeles Review of Books - Authors: Sarah E. Bond, Joel Christensen ## Highlights ### q1 myths don't have one true version > The second is the existence of an ideal form in myth. How we talk about and choose to accept differences is important. Calling one version of a story a “variant” implies, wrongly, that there is an authoritative and original form. This is a top-down version of storytelling that often misses the significance of the differences themselves. Famous things we think we know about ancient myths are mere possibilities contingent on their time and place. In many stories, Medea did not kill her children. In a majority of tales, Oedipus had children with someone other than his mother. I've definitely read something along these lines with regards to Persephone and how some (ancient) variants of the myth had her going voluntarily, etc. There's _not_ "one story" that is the "truth" that got "manipulated" over time. Seanan McGuire does a really nice job with this concept in "The Girl in the Green Silk Gown" ###### Outline The Man Behind the Myth