This episode, Analisa discusses the famous ghost story of La Llorona. She investigates the Mexican folktale of the Weeping Woman, touches on similar ghost stories and myths from places like Germany and Greece, and explores the origins of the tale. Does the story of La Llorona have roots in an ancient Aztec myth? Or does it have something to do with the colonization of Mexico, Hernan Cortez, and an indigenous woman known as La Malinche? Listen to form your own opinion!

Instagram: @magicmythsmonsterspod

Story link: https://originmexico.com/blogs/news/the-legend-of-la-llorona

Sources:

Coerver, Don M. (2004). Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History.

Cuevas García, Roberto (2010). Llorona. Guatemala: Artemis Edinter.

Cypess, Sandra Messinger (1991). La Malinche in Mexican Literature: From History to Myth.

Rolando Romero (2005). Feminism, Nation and Myth: La Malinche.

Werner, Michael S. (1997). Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society & Culture - Vol. 1.

Analisa talks about the ancient Greek myth of the famous gorgon with snakes for hair, Medusa. She relates Ovid’s account of the tale from Metamorphoses, talking about Perseus, Minerva/Athena, Neptune/Poseidon, and the different versions of the myth. In her discussion of the interpretations of the story, Analisa revisits her dislike of Freud.

Story link: https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph4.htm

Sources:

Campbell, Joseph (1968). The Masks of God, Vol. 3: Occidental Mythology.

Freud, Sigmund (Summer 2017). "Medusa's Head". The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. The Hogarth Press.

Hesiod. Theogony.

Marjorie J. Milne, "Perseus and Medusa on an Attic Vase" The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.

Petersen, Per Serritslev (2002). "Jack London's Medusa of Truth.” Philosophy and Literature.

Seelig, B. J. (2002). "The Rape of Medusa in the Temple of Athena: Aspects of Triangulation". International Journal of Psycho-Analysis.

This week, Analisa delves into the story of Little Red Riding Hood, examining where the story came from and its different interpretations.

Story link: https://www.grimmstories.com/en/grimm_fairy-tales/little_red_cap

Sources: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/there-are-58-versions-of-little-red-riding-hood-some-1000-years-older-than-the-brothers-grimms-180947704/

Alan Dundes, "Intrepreting Little Red Riding Hood Psychoanalytically," James M. McGlathery, ed. The Brothers Grimm and Folktale

Charles Perrault, "Little Red Riding Hood." University of Pittsburgh

Catherine Orenstein, Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked: Sex, Morality, and the Evolution of a Fairy Tale

Maria Tatar, p 25, The Annotated Classic Fairy Tales