The Round River: Myth, Meaning, and Rivers

Austin Water Center for Environmental Research Monthly Lunchtime Lecture

Jan 30 Wednesday – NOON to 1pm AT CITY HALL, Austin, Texas

Boards and Commissions Room 1101

The 2013 Lunchtime Lectures will explore the geography of rivers. The metaphor of the “round river” which flows back into itself provides the structure of the lectures. We begin with the mythical, metaphorical river which runs so deeply in human culture and specifically in American culture. Humans have ancient and complex cultural relationships to rivers revealing the deep significance rivers have for the human psyche. The river as a symbol of Being can be found throughout mythology, and, from the Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, we supposedly learned that one cannot step in the same river twice.