The Reflection of Myth in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson Series and Amish Tripathi’s Shiva Trilogy

Abstract

Mythology is considered as a pillar of literature. In recent years it has regained its former glory of playing a pivotal role in the field of literature. Mythology and fiction have worked hand-in-hand to create some of the master pieces that of the past. Two such mythological works of the contemporary era are focused to correlate the world of reality and mythology and also to discover the reflection of myth in literature. Mythological works like Odyssey is recounted more as a historical fiction rather than fiction alone. In recent times, a series of novels focusing on the Greek mythology has been published and has achieved great appreciation from audience of all ages; Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series portrays the life of a teenage boy who is a half-blood, half-god and half-human. Percy Jackson is a normal boy who spends his day being bullied and alone but soon he discovers that he is the son of an ancient god from the Greek myth, this is the plot of the first book from the series of novel and from there the story goes on to elaborate on the protagonist’s various endeavors interconnecting both the mythical world and the world as one see. Rick Riordan, an American author is best known for his work, the Percy Jackson series. The author has also taken the effort to portray the Greek Gods in a more sophisticated manner which blurs the line between them being gods or humans. The paper focuses on the inter-relation of the mythical world and the reality from the perspective of the Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series and Amish Tripathi’s, The Shiva trilogy. Amish Tripathi is an upcoming prolific writer who has gained recognition for his debut novel. God Shiva of the Hindu mythology and unlike the actual myth the whole of novel is from a new and thought-provoking perspective of the writer. The main aim of the paper is to stress on the idea of how the contemporary authors utilize the age-old myth to weave a story that inter-mingles with myth and modern world.