Book Cover
E-book

Title Power of form : recycling myths / edited by Ana Raquel Fernandes, José Pedro Serra and Rui Carlos Fonseca
Published Newcastle upon Tyne : Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015

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Description 1 online resource (vi, 245 pages)
Summary Annotation Although positivism dismissed myths as childish fancy, bound to be superseded by reason, there has been a continuous reappraisal of the power of myths since the 19th century. Once viewed as primitive and unreliable accounts and an inadequate and distorted form of knowledge, myths came to be perceived as exemplary narratives, consisting of rich and complex symbolic constructs that carry meaning and a connection to reality. Myths then came to be regarded as a privileged expression of the human soul and of its possibly submerged and unconscious abysses and dramas. Rather than inherently obscure and elusive to a rational grasp, mythical narratives would therefore be driven by logical reasoning, giving shape to a particular worldview of life and humankind. The enduring power of mythical narrative is attested to by its very plasticity, subject to multiple recreations informed by changing concerns and insights. Mythical narratives have thus attracted the interest of various disciplines, from ethnology and history to philosophy, literature, sociology, politics, the history of religions and art history. This interdisciplinary volume studies how myths are inscribed and recycled within both individual and collective heritage, and examines the personal and political implications of multifaceted engagement with myths as one of the forms through which societies try to make sense of their perplexities
Notes Print version record
Subject Myth in literature.
Myth & legend told as fiction.
Literature & literary studies.
Literary studies: classical, early & medieval.
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Literary.
Myth in literature
Form Electronic book
Author Fernandes, Ana Raquel Lourenço, 1978-
Serra, José Pedro.
Fonseca, Rui Carlos.
ISBN 9781443875943
1443875945
1336096861
9781336096868