A mythographer, according to a strict dictionary definition, is a compiler of myths. Mythography is then the rendering of myths in the arts. These are rather restrictive definitions, which can be said to fail to take into account the large body of twentieth century work on myth from many angles. The compilation of myths assumes some field work; and the aim may be to produce something of value to anthropology, or a myth theory, rather than simply as raw material for transformation into artistic productions.

In fact already in the nineteenth century there was a tendency to produce large-scale myth theories, such as those of Max Müller or James Frazer. It has been a consistent strand of Romanticism, to insist on a level of validity of myth. Theories with an academic basis which support this thinking have been popular, in the sense of receiving much attention; without ever being able to support claims of reliability.

Besides the anthropologist's reason — better understanding of a particular culture in its own terms, that is, for the purposes of cultural anthropology — there are very varied reasons behind the interest of the mythographer. The origins of Greek drama were the immediate cause of the rise of the myth-ritual school , of Jane Harrison, Gilbert Murray and others. Karl Kerenyi, also involved in Greek mythology, was an associate of Carl Jung, who adopted mythological material in his psychological theories. In general literary criticism, myth criticism was put forward by Maud Bodkin , Philip Wheelwright , and others such as Francis Fergusson , Leslie Fiedler , and G. Wilson Knight. The critic Northrop Frye, working from Blake and the Bible as fundamental, always wished to distinguish himself from the myth-ritual school, but is often seen as in some sense having summed up the whole tendency. Robert Graves was interested in poetic theory, and supported his celebrated White Goddess with analysis harking back to Müller and Frazer, as well as the myth-ritual tendency.

There were numerous other mythographic 'schools' in the first half of the twentieth century. Ernst Cassirer's approach was through philosophy, specifically the so-called Marburg School of Kantian thought; it had a direct influence on Suzanne Langer , and has been traced as an influence on Bakhtin. The direction of comparative religion is represented by Mircea Eliade, and also to some extent by the literary critic René Girard . The French sociological school has argued in terms of myths having social function.

The old idea of a universal myth theory, derided by Voltaire, is in modern times most famously represented by Joseph Campbell.

See also: religion and mythology.