Trickster Makes This World: How Disruptive Imagination Creates Culture

by Lewis Hyde

Every system has its rules. Every civilization has its order. And every so often, a trickster comes along to break them. In Trickster Makes This World, Lewis Hyde explores how disruptive figures—mythological tricksters like Hermes, Loki, and Sun Wukong—are not just chaotic troublemakers but essential forces of transformation. Tricksters steal fire, rewrite laws, and force societies to confront their blind spots, all while laughing in the face of authority. Hyde reveals how these figures have shaped art, politics, and philosophy, proving that without the trickster, the world would stagnate.