Interpretation Of Myth Research Articles

“Don’t go picking apples with the devil”: the myth of Faust in the works of Eduardas Mieželaitis

This article analyzes the reflection on the myth of Faust in the work of Eduardas Mieželaitis (1919–1997). The author’s initial hypothesis that the interpretation of this myth can be used as another argument for revealing the poet’s dramatic feelings and self-reflection of inauthentic Soviet existence is tested. Together with other signs of existential self-abuse (such as the metaphors of “the ringed bird” and “the masked word”), this could help answer the question of whether the description of the 1920s generation (Alfonsas Nyka-Niliūnas, Bronius Krivickas, etc.) as “tragic” would fit Mieželaitis. Intertextuality is the best way to describe the nature of the analysis and socio-criticism would describe the interpretation of the results.E. Mieželaitis was (and still is) one of the most intertextual Lithuanian authors. The use of the “alien word” in his texts was a conceptual position of the poet’s creative consciousness. For him the world’s culture has become a central topic, and his texts have been occupied by the masters of arts and sciences of antiquity, Renaissance, or New Age, as well as modern European authors, Oriental classics, Bible quotations, paraphrases, allusions and other forms of culture. For the poet, Goethe’s Faust is one of such foundational texts, even if the Soviet era did not favor the “myths of the great contemplation” (Vytautas Kubilius). The forever relevant myth of Faust raises a fundamental question of person’s life choice – what one is prepared to sacrifice for one’s purpose, and what the results of that “sacrifice” are. But in the Soviet times Mieželaitis did not focus on this myth as a “symbol of the duality of human’s nature” – his human is rather one-dimensional and monolithic, full of positive energy directed towards technological progress and an absolute belief in the cognitive powers of man. This is the exact aspect that Faust embodies in Mieželaitis’ works, as if it was his “new man”, the product of the Enlightenment era. Mieželaitis did not care about the moment of negotiations between Faust and Mephistopheles – for him there could easily be no Mephistopheles. However, in late works (Postskriptumai, 1986; Gnomos, 1987; Laida, 1992), where the poet reflects on his life and creative path, there are many signs of disillusionment with the myth of human omnipotence as the results of his labor have turned against him – he wanted to create a heaven, but got a hell in the form of Hiroshima. It is at this point that Mephistopheles dominates the duet with Faust, but in general they have both become a “common place” and their function is limited by the text’s aesthetic figurativeness.My conclusion is that eventually the rich allusions to Faust in Mieželaitis’ works did not translate into reflections on the essence or meaning of being – he was not concerned with the problematics of human’s choices, duality, or contradictions. Thus, my initial expectation that the interpretation of the Faust myth may be another argument for revealing the poet’s dramatic feelings and self-reflection of inauthentic existence in the Soviet times was essentially not confirmed. And that could have been another argument for adding him to the social group of the 1920s.On the other hand, looking from the distant present, it is my opinion that Mieželaitis is still a part of the tragic generation, as the whole generation – whether they retreated to the West, or remained in Soviet Lithuania, collaborated or resisted – became hostages of the Second World War and the Soviet occupation.

“Os mitos imitam os próprios deuses”

Pretendo apresentar os expedientes retóricos empregados por Salústio em seu Sobre os deuses e o mundo (séc. IV d.C.) de modo a investigar de que forma ele se insere na tradição de interpretação alegórica dos mitos e ainda indicar com quais pressupostos ele trabalha. Para tanto, examino os capítulos iniciais de sua obra e analiso os pontos principais de sua definição de mito, a necessidade de uma abordagem filosófica do mito e a tipologia mitológica que ele traça, alinhando essas passagens ao escopo mais amplo de todo o seu tratado.

Los argumentos para la comprensión de Dios en Clemente de Alejandría: Influjos órficos en "Stromata V"

In this article, we examine the incorporation of Orphic texts applied to the understanding of God according to Clement of Alexandria in Stromata V, within the process of receiving Hellenistic culture into the interpretation of the revealed data. Our explanation takes as its starting points the cultural context of Hellenism and its understanding of the cosmos and the divine as well as the form of allegorical interpretation of myth in Orphic verses. With philological method, we observe Clement’s mode of appropriation by differentiating the original quote in its context, the present context, and the hermeneutic intention.

René Girard’s Scapegoating and Stereotypes of Persecution in the Divine Battle between Veles and Perun

This paper describes René Girard’s interpretation of myths and explains the scapegoating mechanism. This interpretation is then applied to the Slavic basic myth of the divine battle between Veles and Perun. The paper demon- strates that the myth of divine battle still holds enough information to identify and analyse the scapegoating mechanism, all the stereotypes of persecution, an innocent victim or the scapegoat and the violence committed against him. The analysis emphasises and decodes the process in which a human victim of persecution was transformed into a mighty god Veles. The paper also critically evaluates and points out the shortcomings of René Girard’s interpretation of myths in the context of Slavic religion and mythology.

Origin of Spartan kings from Heracles

The descent of Spartan kings from Heracles is considered to be the secondary myth interpretation about the “Return of the Heracledae”. It was associated with Dorian conquest of the Peloponnese in the ancient tradition (Tyrtaeus, Pindar, Herodotus, Isocrates, Ephor). The myth of the “Return of the Heracledae” is known to be one of the genealogical fiction what was invented in Argos and developed further in Sparta. There was a powerful argument for inheritance the rights of the royal title and performing the functions of the high priest in the community if the person was known as the descendant of Heracles belonging to the royal dynasties (Agiades and Euripontides). Apart from that, the power of Spartan kings outside Sparta could be justified if they were related to Heracles. In addition, this belonging to the descendants of Heraclides was above everything. It was one of the most important propaganda arguments to substantiate the legitimacy of the possession of conquered lands in Laconia and Messenia and provide “pro-Achaean” policy by the authorities of Sparta. However, the image of Heracles and his cult did not have the essential meaning in the religious life of the Spartan polis. The heavenly patrons of the kings were “divine twins” - the Dioscuri (Tindaridae). To conclude, it seems to be very controversial that the philosophical and ethical image of Heracles (as the main cynic hero) had a great influence on the representatives of the royal diarchy of the late classical and hellenistic periods.

Last Traces of the Pagan Imagination

ABSTRACTThis article examines the magical tradition of British children’s literature, arguing that it represents the continuation of an animistic spiritual tradition still firmly lodged in the British cultural unconscious. It contrasts the Jungian archetypal interpretation of myth with a viewpoint that locates myths in time and space and suggests the three types of magic found in these books hint at the suppression of old British pagan beliefs by Christianity. Finally, it asserts that the worldwide success of these stories rests on the fact that they awaken a long-colonized indigenous soul in the reader, wherever he or she is from.

Teorias e métodos para o estudo da mitologia nórdica

O presente artigo realiza uma sistematização bibliográfica e analítica sobre algumas teorias do mito e suas aplicações conceituais para a Mitologia Nórdica. Também realizamos algumas discussões metodológicas de análise, exemplificando com alguns temas (a donzela do escudo, Teogonia germânica e nórdica, a árvore cósmica euroasiática) e excertos de fontes primárias (De Origine et situ Germanorum, Vǫluspá, Grímnismál, Gylfaginning, Örvar-Oddr saga e a tapeçaria de Överhogdal, entre outras). Os pressupostos teóricos e metodológicos predominantes são o Estruturalismo, a Mitologia Comparada e os estudos abordando a cultura visual dos mitos. Também desenvolvemos uma pequena sistematização de algumas das críticas apontadas aos referenciais da fenomenologia aplicada à interpretação dos mitos, especialmente as que foram desenvolvidas pelos escandinavistas.

A cram on the interpretation of myth in Ngugi’s “The River Between”

A cram on the interpretation of myth in Ngugi’s “The River Between”

Mito, historia y razón: entre Schelling y Adorno

Este artículo fundamenta la tesis de que el descubrimiento de elementos inconscientes en la base de la consciencia y de sus procesos de formación propició desde Kant una visión esencialmente crítica del sentido de la historia y una creciente comprensión del papel de la mitología para la conciencia humana. El estudio de este movimiento de crítica de la razón parte 1) de algunos descubrimientos de la filosofía clásica alemana sobre las presuposiciones de la consciencia que condujeran 2) a la comprensión de la historia como “caída”. La análisis de Schelling de los marcos del pasado —ruinas, megalitos y textos arcaicos— muestran así a la conciencia histórica asentada sobre un pasado inmemorial, del que se libra mediante una revelación. 3) La discusión de la mitología como fenómeno esencial a la conciencia histórica tiene como conclusión, según Schelling, la interpretación literal o “tautegórica” del mito, y 4) una concepción esencialmente mitológica del lenguaje y del significado en general. 5) Las concepciones de Schelling son comparadas con algún pensamiento filosófico sobre la historia en el siglo XX, a saber, la tesis de Husserl sobre la relación entre historia y conciencia y 6) con las concepciones de la relación entre mito y Aufklärung de Adorno y Horkheimer. Como conclusión, 7) la filosofía de la identidad de Schelling se contrasta con la concepción adorniana de lo no-idéntico, en lo que se refiere especialmente con la comprensión de la historia y del tiempo y la relación de la conciencia europea con la colonización y la violencia.

ANÁLISIS SEMIOLÓGICO DEL MITO COMO PATRIMONIO COLECTIVO E INDIVIDUAL EN CUATRO NIVELES DE INTERPRETACIÓN

El análisis del mito lo fosiliza y lo desconecta de su función primigenia y su significado más profundo. A partir del testimonio de los aborígenes australianos, se han identificado cuatro posibles niveles de significado del mito. En este trabajo, utilizando la metodología semiológica, nos proponemos el objetivo de ver si este proceso de interpretación puede haber sido un denominador común en todas las culturas que, en el mito, tienen un patrimonio colectivo inmaterial. Proponemos una denominación a estos niveles de análisis y significado, aportando ejemplos de culturas, épocas y territorios muy distantes. El resultado es una verificación del nivel más íntimo de significado del mito, conscientes de que los métodos científicos siempre nos mantendrán alejados de la capa más personal y viva del mito, la que constituye el patrimonio individual.

Babel Re-Play

This article discusses the first phase of Babel Re-Play, a collaborative project by academics and artists in South Africa and Switzerland applying principles of art as research and play theory. The interest of the participants, inspired by the larger research initiative Construction Site/Chantier, is in deepening our understandings of the ways modernity is playing out in contemporary cities. The article shows how re-playing the well-known myth of Babel recorded in Genesis in the Old Testament, which has been explored and re-shaped by countless artists, philosophers, and scholars over the ages, affords new readings and new knowledge of the city. A South African team and a Swiss team each produced a short film, serving to sample aspects of the contemporary city led by interpretations of myths associated with Babel.

Diglossia: The Early Modern Reinvention of Mythological Discourse

Diglossia: The Early Modern Reinvention of Mythological Discourse

Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History by Matthew Simonton

400 PHOENIX elsewhere instead of leading unwary students astray with this distorted teleological account of the interpretation of myth.3 Bryn Mawr College Radcliffe Edmonds Classical Greek Oligarchy: A Political History. By Matthew Simonton. Princeton, New Jersey, and Oxford: Princeton University Press. 2017. Pp. xvi, 355, 1 map. The work under review is the first full-length monograph on the subject of Greek oligarchy since the publication of Leonard Whibley’s Greek Oligarchies in 1896. The subtitle reveals that the historical phenomenon of ancient Greek oligarchy will be examined through the lens of modern political science theory. The long first chapter, “Problem, Background, Method” (1–74), lays the groundwork for the rest of the book in a series of sections. Section 1.0 looks at the “Problem of Oligarchy,” asking first why it has been neglected and misunderstood by historians. Then, rejecting the view that oligarchy was inevitable, the author instead advances the opinion that it was exceptional, a manifestation of authoritarianism that evolved as a specific response to demokratia. He states that it was not designed to be popular with the masses, which leads him to the question why in that case it succeeded for so long in the classical and Hellenistic Greek world, which, in his view, became steadily more and more democratic. His answer is that it survived through institutions, which he will examine through the recent political science theory of “New Institutionalism.” This theory holds that effectively designed institutions enable unpopular authoritarian regimes to coerce and control unsympathetic populations. Sections 1.1, “From Archaic Regimes to Classical Oligarchy,” and 1.1.1, “Elite and Demos in Archaic Sources,” put forward the view that classical oligarchy was different from the elite (he prefers this label over aristocratic) regimes of the archaic period. He argues that, while classical oligarchy was an attack upon the participation of the demos, archaic regimes had complex constitutional structures of councils, magistrates and assemblies, in which the demos, although dominated by the elite, did have a function. Only when the growth of democracy in the late sixth and early fifth centuries signaled an increased role for the demos in political affairs, did the elite feel threatened and oligarchia result. Section 1.1.2, “The Emergence of Democracy,” analyses the three conditions for the breakdown of elite regimes in the archaic period and the emergence of democracy: 1) the times were bad enough for the demos to risk attempting a change; 2) members of the elite were for one reason or another alienated enough from their fellows that they were prepared to break ranks and lead the revolution; 3) members of the demos felt ready for a mass movement, as a result of increased wealth and urbanization. Section 1.1.3, “Early Elite Reactions to Demokratia,” argues against the view that oligarchia was a late fifth-century concept, and reinforces the author’s argument (stated 3 Perhaps L. Brisson, “Aristotle and the Beginnings of Allegorical Exegesis,” in id., How Philosophers Saved Myths: Allegorical Interpretation and Classical Mythology (tr. C. Tihanyi; Chicago 2004) 29–40. BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 401 above) about how and when it evolved. Unlike the elite regimes of the archaic period, which tolerated the demos and allowed it some space, the new phenomenon of oligarchia, out of hatred of the people, aimed to cut the demos out of political activity altogether. The next four sections (1.2–1.2.4) treat the “World of Classical Oligarchic Politics.” Rejecting Aristotle’s “hyper-analytical” classification of four types of oligarchies, the author believes that there are common characteristics to all ancient oligarchies. In the first place (section 1.2.1) all oligarchs were elites from the class of the leisured wealthy, “the horse-owning upper crust” (37). These were the men eligible for election to the magistracies in the assembly. Provocatively, the author argues that classical oligarchies, like those of Phokion and Demetrios of Phaleron, “retained a popular assembly open to all free adult males” (40, argued in more detail at 121–133), asserting that all those who were disfranchised under those constitutions were not excluded from the assembly. Section 1.2.2, “The Myth of the ‘Hoplite Republic’,” explores the possibility that...

The Anatomy of Myth: The Art of Interpretation from the Presocratics to the Church Fathers by Michael W. Herren

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 397 Callimachus. When discussing Homeric Hymn to Ares, attributed by some to Proclus, van den Berg argues (pace West)2 that it lacks any trace of technical Neoplatonic vocabulary (although it does exhibit a longing for peace and a fear of madness found in other late pagan texts) and he sides with those who believe that the hymn was deliberately inserted into the Homeric collection in late antiquity. Gianfranco Agosti concludes this section, positing that a corpus of the Hymns, quite like the collection seen in medieval manuscripts, already existed in the fourth and fifth centuries c.e. Poets of the period liked to sprinkle in phrases and epithets from them for coloring. While Christians had their own tradition of hymnography, Agosti offers several examples of Christian hymns “usurping” a narrative structure from a Homeric hymn when celebrating the true religion. No manuscripts of the hymns from the Byzantine period survive; nor are there explicit references to them. In Part IV, Christos Simelidis explores the difficulties in looking for borrowings; he also discusses John Eugenikos’s inclusion of the Hymns with the Iliad and not within a hymnic corpus (see Bessarion, below) while Andrew Faulkner considers the Hymns in the context of Theodorus Prodromos’s praise poetry of twelfthcentury historical events. In Part V, Oliver Thomas lucidly delineates two Renaissance approaches, one placing the Hymns within the tradition of pagan Greek theological poems, the other, initiated by Bessarion, placing them at the end of Homer’s works. The latter prevailed. M. Elisabeth Schwab skillfully discusses the hAphrodite in the context of Poliziano’s Stanze per la giostra. Next, in a masterful chapter, Nicholas Richardson examines the Hymns as seen through the eyes of three English translators, one of whom, George Chapman, was the first to translate the Iliad and the Odyssey into English. Years later, turning to the Hymns, the Batrachomyomachia, and Epigrams ascribed to Homer, Chapman writes in 1624 that the work he was “borne to doe is done” (epigram at the end of The Crowne of all HomersWorkes, line 1). Richardson also discusses William Congreve’s Homer’s Hymn to Venus (1710) and Shelley’s Hymn to Mercury (1820). Andreas Schwab ends the volume with a look at Johann Heinrich Voss’s (1826) German translation and commentary of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (discovered in 1777), which Voss regarded as “the oldest memorial of holy bonds” (quoted by Schwab [356]). While much of the study of the Hymns’ reception in the ancient world is speculative, posing the question of their reception in the context of archaic art, Hellenistic and Augustan poetry, and prose from the imperial period and late antiquity stimulates rich observations both about the Hymns and the later compositions. When the question of reception is on firmer ground from the Renaissance to the 1820s the chapters in this volume are even richer. Boston University Stephen Scully The Anatomy of Myth: The Art of Interpretation from the Presocratics to the Church Fathers. By Michael W. Herren. New York: Oxford University Press. 2017. Pp. xi, 231. Herren explains his title from the etymological sense of “anatomy,” as the cutting up of myth to see what is inside, and his work intends to trace the different kinds of anatomies of myth, the kinds of interpretations made of myths from the time of Homer 2 M. L. West, “The Eighth Homeric Hymn and Proclus,” CQ n.s. 20 (1970) 300–304. 398 PHOENIX to the early Christian period. There is certainly a need for a good scholarly analysis of techniques of myth interpretation, but this book, alas, is not that, nor does it even take advantage of the recent developments in the scholarship on mythography and allegoresis to position interpreters within the larger context of myth collection and interpretation. Instead, this study tells a teleological story of myth interpretation as the gradual liberation of humankind from the tyranny of religion, led by a few bright lights from classical antiquity who pierced the veil of obfuscation that myth drapes over people trying to figure out how the world really works. The “new atheists” and Dawkins in particular are held up as the natural culmination of this centuries...

Did the Ancient Greek Novels Have Characters?

Did the Ancient Greek Novels Have Characters?

La dimensión anímica del derecho: una aproximación preliminar desde la psicología analítica

This paper presents a proposal of interdisciplinary approach between analytic psychology and law. From the basis of Carl G. Jung’s theoretical framework, we argue that the law is animated by psychic contents of archetypical nature, which shape the way in which humans relate with rules and authority and impact how we regulate as a society. The paper introduces myth interpretation as a means to comprehend that animic dimension of law and describes the concepts, techniques and cares that should guide the analysis. An interpretation of the fall of Adam and Eve is conducted as an example of the proposed interdisciplinary approach. The analysis leads us to argue that the psychic tendency to separate the inner self from the outer self, with the relegation of the former, derives in the domination of the masculine over the feminine and in a relationship characterized by distance and fear between humans and the authority. The regulation that arises from that context is one also marked by separation, fear of sanctions and is focused on the external behavior. The image of Jesus is thus presented as compensatory one since it tends to the reunion of the inner with the outer and of the feminine with the masculine, which derives in a regulation substantially different from that of the Old Testament.

Nietzsche und die Religionen. Transkulturelle Perspektiven seines Bildungs- und Denkweges, Nietzsche—Meditationen. Das Kloster, das Meer und die “neue” Unendlichkeit

Nietzsche und die Religionen. Transkulturelle Perspektiven seines Bildungs- und Denkweges, Nietzsche—Meditationen. Das Kloster, das Meer und die “neue” Unendlichkeit

Peter Klepec: from a (Local) Hero to a (National) Allegory of Weakness

The narrative hero Peter Klepec is known (and laid claim to) by the inhabitants of the Čabranka-Osilnica valley, the border area on the Croatian and Slovenian side of the border. There circulate a number of quite similar stories about him, in which a frail illegitimate child Peter becomes a strong man, whose supernatural powers help the needy and drive the enemies from these regions. This paper shows the changing role and diversity of interpretations of myth in time and space using the example of folk and literary hero Peter Klepec. It focuses on the historical changes in the perception of Peter Klepec: namely, on his (local) function at the time of the Hapsburg imperial policy, the process of his nationalisation and dilemmas that arose following the division of the Čabranka-Osilnica area, i.e., the originating area of the creation of the legend of the two countries (Croatia and Slovenia). It shows that Klepec was due to different historical circumstances and (interpretive) discourse used for different purposes. First, he served as a symbol of strength and survival in the Čabranka-Osilnica valley, and then as the Hapsburg myth that justified the existence of the monarchy facing the hostile Ottomans, and lastly as an allegory of a servile Slovene, who is always just a faithful bondsman to other masters (first under the Austro-Hungarians and then the European Union).

Traditional and Cultural Beliefs vis-à-vis National and Religious Myths in Sohrab Sepehri’s The Traveler

This study examines the integration of national and religious myths from varied traditions that permeate Sohrab Sepehri’s poem, The Traveler. The authors posit that Sepehri’s conceptions of these ancient tales and their expression in the poem constitute a creative evolutionary process that stands as our central thesis. The focus is an interpretation of Sepehri’s unconscious mind vis-a-vis the association of specific myths with the theosophical origins of recurrent themes. We utilize historical criticism as literary analysis in our application of a qualitative approach to the depiction of positions and periods in which these myths enjoyed currency in their respective cultures. Thus, the study attempts to portray the imaginative world that stands behind The Traveler while analyzing the relations of myths to religion, history and sociology — perhaps with a view to position the cited traditions as 'Iranian', or allow them as adaptations of traditional Persian forms derived from other nations. We conclude that the construction and interpretation of myths embody age-old existential issues and readers may judge whether the authors have substantiated the thesis of 'poetic evolution'. This novel approach to the great poet has but slight contemporary competition, hence, the literature base is meager.

Peter Klepec: from a (Local) Hero to a (National) Allegory of Weakness

The narrative hero Peter Klepec is known (and laid claim to) by the inhabitants of the Čabranka-Osilnica valley, the border area on the Croatian and Slovenian side of the border. There circulate a number of quite similar stories about him, in which a frail illegitimate child Peter becomes a strong man, whose supernatural powers help the needy and drive the enemies from these regions. This paper shows the changing role and diversity of interpretations of myth in time and space using the example of folk and literary hero Peter Klepec. It focuses on the historical changes in the perception of Peter Klepec: namely, on his (local) function at the time of the Hapsburg imperial policy, the process of his nationalisation and dilemmas that arose following the division of the Čabranka-Osilnica area, i.e., the originating area of the creation of the legend of the two countries (Croatia and Slovenia). It shows that Klepec was due to different historical circumstances and (interpretive) discourse used for different purposes. First, he served as a symbol of strength and survival in the Čabranka-Osilnica valley, and then as the Hapsburg myth that justified the existence of the monarchy facing the hostile Ottomans, and lastly as an allegory of a servile Slovene, who is always just a faithful bondsman to other masters (first under the Austro-Hungarians and then the European Union).