Abstract

The word myth is commonly thought to mean a fictional story, but few know that Plato was the first to use the term _muthos_ in that sense. He also used _muthos_ to describe the practice of making and telling stories, the oral transmission of all that a community keeps in its collective memory. In the first part of _Plato the Myth Maker_, Luc Brisson reconstructs Plato's multifaceted description of _muthos_ in light of the latter's Atlantis story. The second part of the book contrasts this sense of myth with another form of speech that Plato believed was far superior: the _logos_ of philosophy. Gerard Naddaf's substantial introduction shows the originality and importance both of Brisson's method and of Plato's analysis and places it in the context of contemporary debates over the origin and evolution of the oral tradition. "[Brisson] contrasts _muthos_ with the _logos_ found at the heart of the philosophical reading. [He] does an excellent job of analyzing Plato's use of the two speech forms, and the translator's introduction does considerable service in setting the tone."—_Library Journal_