[UA] Statosphere review

[Will]

Matthew R Norwood <norwoodm at MIT.EDU> a écrit :
> 
> The ones in the first book were good, solid, recognizable -- as archetypes
> are supposed to be (hence the whole "position of power in the cultural
> psyche"  thing). But in this book, I had a hard time figuring out the
> difference between many, if not most, of the new types presented.

Well, I tend to disagree here. The first archetypes are obviously very
"archetypal", even bordering on "concepts": War, Mother, Messenger, ...

Then when civilisation begins to appear, you have new archetypes, following
this evolution: the Hunter (food provider) is replaced by the Farmer or the
Shepherd, and eventually doesn't embody anymore the idea of the food provider
for the tribe, but a more "executionner", relentless tracker aspect.

Finally, you have what I would call "sociological" archetypes. There are great
aspects of our times, but of course they lack the deeper "mythological"
aspect, because we're less used to them. The fact that archetypes evolve
doesn't mean that they disappear or that variations don't appear. The Explorer
seems to be a valid archetype, for example, certainly channeled by Columbus
or Richard Burton. But Gargarine or Amstrong didn't really replace them, I
have the impression they just opened a new way, about the space odissey.

I think you can for ex. compare that to the evolution in sciences. At first you
have very basic but broad scale discoveries (Archimedes and so on), then you
go into things a little more abstract (Copernicus) and finally you have things
that only a few people can understand and that are not really "revolutions"
any more, just progress.

Conclusion: I find it normal that new archetypes are narrower in scope.

> I don't mean to be a spoilsport... I just had my hopes too high, I guess.

One thing I'd like to say about this book: the Art is wonderful.

The cover is the best I've seen, because on one hand the art is great, and on
the other hand it conveys exactly the right feeling for the book.

I also liked a lot the illos for the archetypes, and on top of that the photos
are really great.

Well, really great stuff on that part.

Will

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