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Introduction
The notion of “Myth”
Ancient myths in contemporary European Literature
First Lesson
Lecturer: Petros Marazopoulos
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Myth in Contemporary Literature
Course’s Semester Schedule
• First Lesson- Introduction, Semester schedule, Definition of Myth, Reception Theory
• Second Lesson- Intertextuality, Myth as archetype; Literary and filmic texts as examples
• Third Lesson-Antigone in contemporary theatre and literature. Bertolt Brecht’s Antigone (1947)
• Fourth Lesson- Transformations of Oedipus in literature, theatre, cinema, poetry, psychology
• Fifth Lesson- First meeting regarding semester essays; topics, concrete structure, bibliography, citations
• Sixth Lesson- The myth of Orpheus in Literature, Cinema and Art
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Myth in Contemporary Literature
Course’s Semester Schedule
• Seventh Lesson- Medea in contemporary film and literature
• Eighth Lesson-The myth of Penelope and its transformations in the contemporary era
• Ninth Lesson- Cavafy, Alexandria and myth. The poetic construction of a mythical city
• Tenth Lesson- Thesis presentations/ Examination
• Eleventh Lesson- Thesis presentations II/ Examination
Important Deadlines: 15 March (email mentioning essay’s topic/ research title and structure of thesis) & 8 May
(email with the final version of the essay)
Research thesis required pages: 3.000- 5.000 words
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Myth in contemporary literature- Course’s subjects
• Defining “myth”
• Myth, philosophy, arts and literature
• Myth transformations; Comparison of two or more different texts, Emphasis on the historical/
political context, differences in gernes, forms, characters, plot, meaning
• Cultural transformations of the myths
• The notion of intertextuality; deliberant and latent relationships between literary texts
• Reception Theory; analyzing processes in which literary texts are received
• Greek ancient myths as archetypes for contemporary literary and filmic texts
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Defining Myth
• Stories regarding death and future already from the Neanderthals
• Myth, the experience of death and the notion of uncertainty
• Myth and the unknown
• Mythology and ceremony: ceremonies as part of the story
• Myth and educational purposes # myths are not “simple stories”
• The ethical aspects of mythology
• Getting closer to the Gods; understanding a reality out of the world
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Defining Myth
• Myth and problematic human situations; anger, passion, hard feelings
• The belief that Gods, humans, nature and animals are closely connected
• Myth and the life after death; overcoming human nature
• In the contemporary era, myth is used to describe something that is not true
• Is myth an inferior way of thinking?
• Myths, diachronic values, human nature and human fears
• Myths were constructed by different societies, but managed to express universal thoughts, agonies,
fears, values
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Short History of Myth
• The Hunters’ mythology (20.000- 8.000 BC); in the Paleolithic era every action is connected with the God’s
experience
• Observing the sky; enthusiasm, fear, pleasure (Sky and Gods in stories of the people from Mesopotamia,
India and Ancient Greece)
• Myths as ways to overcome human nature and to reach communication with the Gods
• Through myths, the notion of hero is born; leaves home, faces monsters, defies death, gains new experiences
• The myths of paleolithic era and the Ancient Greek myths (Hercules)
• The Farmers’ mythology (8.000- 4.000 BC); Neolithic era and the agricultural sacred myths
• Ceremonial events and the reception of Earth as God
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Short History of Myth
• The First Civilizations (4.000- 800 BC); Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, Crete
• Life in the cities, art, education, invention of writing
• Understanding civilization as a constant struggle against barbarism
• Human in the epicenter, gods (sometimes) in second role
• 200 BC- 1500 AC;
• The central question; Myth and the relationship with religion
• Myth, mystery, religion
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Short History of Myth
• The Western Transformation (1500-2000 AC)
• Understanding Myth as anachronistic and false stories
• Logic and thought – discourses based on logic
• Western achievements, and scientific spirit Vs Myth
• Modernity and new, contemporary types of heroes
• Construction of contemporary myths
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A –philosophical- definition of Myth
By myth we usually mean an imaginary representation, a direct expression
of the object, a projection in the objective world, in nature and society, in
human life and history, of subjective forms that are considered objective.
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Literary texts and myth
• Myth as a cultural text with ethical and social dimensions
• Literary texts, transformations of myths and new meanings
• Many, different approaches on the relationship between literature and myth (myth as folklore, myth as
social event etc.)
• Comparative literature and mythology
• The literary myth is the elaboration of a traditional or archetypal datum by different genres,
releasing multiple meanings
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Hans Robert Jauss and the “Reception Theory”
• Jauss’s theory views literature from the perspective of the reader
• Jauss treats literature “as a dialectical process of production and reception”
• Connecting art of the past and the interests of the contemporary period
• Literature as a dialectical process of production and consumption
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Hans Robert Jauss and the “Reception Theory”
• Aesthetic dimension; Already from the first reading, the reader shall identify the text’s
aesthetic value, by comparing it with his other readings
• Historic dimension; The interpretation of the first reader can be enriched from
generation to generation
• Tradition shall be reviewed continuously under specific historical conditions
• The mediating character of literature between past and present
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The “horizon of expectations”
• How does a reader respond to an individual literary work?
• How do readers' prior knowledge, readings and cultural context shape their understanding of literary
texts?
• Jauss believes that the reading audience approach texts with a set of expectations
• This set of expectations is based on their previous literary experiences, cultural background, and
historical moment
• Horizon of expectations and literary genre
• Relationship between different literary gernes
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Text, reader and the process of reading
• During the reading process, the reader evaluates the facts, in relation to his expectations
and in comparison with his background
• The meaning is never exactly the same
• The reader's horizon of expectations serves as a lens through which they make sense of a
literary text
• The changes in historical contexts affect the “horizons of expectations” that readers
bring to their encounters with literary works
• Alterations in ideological, cultural and social norms can significantly change the way in
which readers perceive texts from different historical periods
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Text, reader and the process of reading
• “Horizon of expectations” is also closely linked to the notion of intertextuality
• Intertextuality refers to the way in which texts are shaped by -and respond to- other
texts within a literary tradition
• Gernes and horizon of expectation
• Critique on the concept of “horizon of expectation”
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Petros Marazopoulos
petrosmarazopoulos@gmail.com
February 2025