蓋曼著作的奇幻小說《美國眾神》以美國的移民背景設想為基礎，將美國詮釋為存在著各文化移民所信仰之諸神的國度。小說經由神祇只能依靠人類信仰為生的設定，以此鋪陳出各移民文化宗教信仰中的舊神與表徵當代科技文明精神的科技新神兩方之間的衝突鬥爭。儘管《美》書的時空背景乃置於當代美國社會，卻融合了濃厚的神話書寫，包括神話傳統在小說書寫中的化用，及呼應自然循環秩序結構的敘事安排與意象。本文首先將探討《美》書中所援引作為題材的傳統神話原典，並剖析小說中隱含的神話與歷史維度，梳理其對於美國神話和歷史的詮釋；最後則針對文本的情節發展和關鍵意象進行探討，指出它們與自然循環和天體象徵的呼應。小說書寫中的神話創作不只是指向人類集體精神的再現，而更多地呈現創作者由共通性的集體經驗模式用以表述自身對美國文化的觀照。

The setting of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy fiction American Gods is based on American’simmigrant background; thus the image of America in the text is described as a nation which isinhabited by various immigratory deities from their believers’ cultural tradition. Because of the fictional setting that deities could only live on people’s belief, the story presents the battle and conflict between the old gods from other religions of immigrants and the new ones of technology, and the latter symbolizes the spirit of technological civilization. Though the space-time backgroundin American Gods is based on contemporary American society, the text still is filled with the richness of mythological writing including the mythological traditions andthe narrative and images that correspond with the natural recurring order structure.Firstly, the article aims at discussing the mythological origins as the subject matter in the text, and secondly, analyzing its mythological and historical concept background, at to figure out the interpretation on American myth and history. I wouldalso deal with the correspondence between the development of plot and the naturalorder, and the critical images in the text that symbolize the power of celestial bodies.The mythopoeic writing in fiction is not just a re-representation of the collective spirit in human nature, but more apparently the writer’s expression of personal viewpointtowards American culture through the common pattern of collective experiences.