Myths and Myth Maker: Some Anthropological Appraisals of the Mythological Studies of Levi-Strauss

Ethnology ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Mandelbaum
Keyword(s):  
Mythological Studies

scholarly journals Philosophical Versions of the Eternal Storyline About Cupid and Psyche: from Neoplatonism to Christianity

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-55
Author(s):  
Yuliya G. Kotaridi
Keyword(s):  
Eternal Life ◽  
Genre Studies ◽  
The Novel ◽  
European Literature ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Cupid And Psyche ◽  
Mythological Studies

<p>The subject of this paper is the transformation of the poetics of Cupid and Psyche plot in its national and historical modifications in European literature. The methodology of the analysis is based on mythological studies (A.&nbsp;N.&nbsp;Veselovsky, A.&nbsp;F.&nbsp;Losev) and genre studies (M.&nbsp;M.&nbsp;Bakhtin, S.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Averintsev, E.&nbsp;M.&nbsp;Meletinsky, etc.). Allegorization of the images of Love and Soul appeared in the antiquity long before the novel by Apuleius &ldquo;Asinus Aureus&rdquo; or &ldquo;Metamorphoses&rdquo; (the 2<sup>nd</sup> century AD). In a&nbsp;Greek epigram Eros is often associated with the element of fire that puts the soul&nbsp;&mdash; &ldquo;Psycho&rdquo;&nbsp;&mdash; to a variety of ordeals and tortures. In &ldquo;Metamorphoses&rdquo; by Apuleius the tale about Cupid and Psyche can be seen as an allegorical narration about the soul traveling around the world and looking for ways to Love and eternal life. Later, the parabolic core of the ancient story was enriched with new motifs from the arsenal of mythology, Neoplatonism and Christianity. The archetypical basis and platonic paradigm of the plot in &ldquo;Metamorphoses&rdquo; by Apuleius go together in a syncretic unity, that provides universality and polysemy of the different versions of tales about Cupid and Psyche in European literature. The neoplatonic version of the story, which interprets the reunion between Cupid and Psyche as the Union of God and Soul, is represented in literature by writings of Fulgentius, Boccaccio, Heine, Coleridge, Żuławski and others.</p>

scholarly journals Art. VIII.—Mythological Studies in the Rigveda

1895 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-189
Author(s):  
A. A. Macdonell
Keyword(s):  
The Real ◽  
Real Presence ◽  
Mythological Studies

Viṣṇu, the supreme god of one of the two great divisions of the Hinduism of the present day, is already a leading deity in the Rigveda, though he plays a less prominent part there than Varuṇa, Indra, Agni, or Soma. His essential character as the Preserver in Hinduism is displayed in his Avatārs or incarnations, by means of which he appears on earth as the friend and helper of humanity in distress. “For the defence of the good and the suppression of the wicked,” he is made to say in the Bhagavadgītā (IV. 7–8), “for the establishment of justice, I manifest myself from age to age.” The Brāhmaṇas know nothing of the theory of Avatārs, which are not mere transitory manifestations of the deity, but the real presence of the supreme god in mundane beings. In the great Epics, however, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, the theory is already fully recognised.

scholarly journals O. O. Potebnja’s scholar formation in the light of the discussion with P. O. Lavrovskij

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Extra Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Mythological Studies

The paper deals with the situation which emerged after the publication of O. O. Potebnja’s (A. A. Potebnya’s) work „On mythical significance of the rituals and the superstitions” (1865) where some problems of comparative mythological studies were examined. This work became an object of critical analysis accomplished by professor of Kharkov university P. O. Lavrovskij, Potebnja’s teacher, who wrote and published (1866) a voluminous critical review text (102 pages) in the genre of razbor „an analytical book review” which represented the reviewing traditions of the academic discourse in XIX c. O. O. Potebnja’s text which contains the replies to the critique of his teacher in the razbor remains as a whole still unpublished and is preserved as an archive document. In Potebnja studies it is conventionally named „The reply”. So the textual base for the analysis of this discussion includes three texts, two last of which are under consideration in the paper. The text of P. O. Lavrovskij’s razbor is notable for its extremely detailed analysis of Potebnja’s work with the use of rare sources, extra information from manuscripts, vocabularies, academic works on mythology, history and culture of different peoples, on linguistics and comparative studies. The text shows that P. O. Lavrovskij’s attention is directed mainly to the methodological aspect of Potebnja’s research: his critical remarks cover almost all methods of analysis, especially, the procedures dealing with establishment of identity or similarity of the mythical objects. Discussing with P. O. Lavrovskij O. O. Potebnja demonstrates an equal status to his opponent, his vast commentaries in the text of „The reply” correspond to the deep understanding of the nature of mythical space. His position in this textual discussion is marked by maturity of considerations and highly informative answers to his opponent. The author comes to the conclusion that the discussion represents the situation of methodological conflict, typical for the history of Slavic studies in XIX c., which nevertheless creates stimuli for elaborating methodological foundations in philological science.

scholarly journals Den oldengelske digtning og Grundtvig

1989 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Bent Noack
Keyword(s):  
Exeter Book ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
Religious Poetry ◽  
Important Group ◽  
Mythological Studies ◽  
The Phoenix

Grundtvig and Anglo-Saxon PoetryBy Bent NoackGrundtvig’s work on Anglo-Saxon poetry and his use of it is, in many respects, an important part of his legacy to his people and his church. It was the historian Grundtvig who, at the beginning of his career, used the Beowulf Poem in his mythological studies and both welcomed and criticized Thorkelin’s 1815 edition of it. His work on Beowulf went on, almost till the end of his life, with translations, reproduction and, finally, an edition in 1861.His journeys to England in 1829 to 1831 also had historical and mythological studies as their main purpose. But soon Grundtvig became aware that England possessed an important group of manuscripts of biblical and religious poetry, the Exeter Book being the most outstanding. He planned an edition, in England, of ’the most valuable Anglo-Saxon manuscripts’, as he said in his ’prospectus’ for a subscription. Part of the plan was eventually carried out by Benjamin Thorpe, but Grundtvig’s work was not done for nothing: many of his readings and emendations are still maintained. In 1840, he published an edition of the ’Phoenix’ with introduction and translation.As a hymn writer Grundtvig reproduced pieces of Anglo-Saxon poetry; his collected hymns contain eight reproductions, and two of them are still among the most cherished of his hymns.

scholarly journals On the Reception of the French Version of Cupid and Psyche Plot in the Poem of Ippolit Bogdanovich “Dushenka” (1783)

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 325-335
Author(s):  
Yuliya Kotaridi
Keyword(s):  
Genre Studies ◽  
French Version ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Cupid And Psyche ◽  
Hybrid Genre ◽  
Mythological Studies

The subject of this paper is the transformation of poetics of Cupid and Psyche plot in its national and historical modifications in French and Russian literatures of the 17th–18th centuries. The methodology of the analysis is based on mythological studies (K. Levi-Strauss, J. Frazer, A. N. Veselovsky, A. F. Losev) and genre studies (M. M. Bakhtin, S. S. Averintsev, E. M. Meletinsky, etc.). This paper examines the genre of J. de La Fontaine’s and his follower Ippolit Bogdanovich’s versions of the plot and the interrelation of various literary styles in their poetics. The genre of the French and Russian versions absorbs the elements of Classicism, Baroque and Rococo which are combined in syncretic unity. The transformation of the tale of Cupid and Psyche leads La Fontaine and Bogdanovich to the creation of a hybrid genre in which the initial version of the plot is exposed to travesty and revaluation.

Living Myths in a Living World

2022 ◽  
pp. 145-163
Author(s):  
Amber Lehning
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Values ◽  
Environmental Activism ◽  
Fan Studies ◽  
Living World ◽  
Green Approach ◽  
A Value ◽  
Value Shift ◽  
Mythological Studies

This chapter considers fan studies in a mythological studies context and examines how green studies might use a similar approach to tap into the cultural and mythic power of modern fandoms. The first part defines the components of myth, considers existing fandom studies theories related to those components, and discusses on how fandom studies could impact the larger mythological studies debate. The second part describes the mythological roots of today's environmental crises and discusses the influence of specific fandoms on environmental activism. The chapter closes with some thoughts on how a mythological and green approach to fandom could provide further cultural impetus to positive environmental values much as feminist, ethnic, and queer perspectives on fandom have highlighted and supported a value shift in society as a whole.

scholarly journals Mythological Studies. I—The Three Daughters of Cecrops

1891 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 350-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane E. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Literary Tradition ◽  
The Real ◽  
Ancient Athens ◽  
Present Purpose ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Good For ◽  
Mythological Studies ◽  
Three Sisters ◽  
I 31

Any one who investigates the mythology of Athens is confronted first and foremost by the figures of Cecrops and his daughters, Pandrosos, Herse, and Aglauros. Such shadowy personalities as Porphyrion, Kolanios, &c., are obvious interpolations from other local cults, and as such quâ Athens may be disregarded. In visiting the outlying demes Pausanias was told of other kings (P. i. 31, 5) who preceded Cecrops. Well and good for the demes, jealous of their local heroes and anxious to interpolate their names in the genealogical table of the pre-eminent Athens; but for Athens herself, and for the Athenian Apollodorus (Bibl. iii. 13, 8), it is with Cecrops the autochthon that the real live mythology of Athens begins—he is a person in art as well as in literary tradition. Above all, for our present purpose he has three famous daughters, whose personalities and activity are considerably more vital than that of their father.In dealing with Athenian local cults (Mythology and Monuments of Ancient Athens, p. xxxiii.), and especially on examining the ceremony of the Hersephoria, I was constantly haunted by the conviction that behind the personalities of these three sisters more was hidden than came to light on the surface. Father and daughters alike seemed to me too personal—if I may be allowed a seeming contradiction—to be mere impersonations. Cecrops we are usually told is the eponymous of the Cecropidae; his three daughters some mythologists hold are impersonations of the dew, a view I hope I have shown is unsatisfactory, if not untenable (op. cit. p. xxxiv.), or else they were incarnations of certain attributes and aspects of Athene, bearing to her much the same relation as Erectheus to Poseidon. If so, these incarnations are very vivacious, and their activity is strangely independent and even adverse to that of the goddess herself. Such solutions somehow fail to carry conviction. The subject has been so long and so ably investigated that it is with considerable deference I offer for criticism a solution I believe to be wholly novel.

Living Myths in a Living World

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Amber Lehning
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Values ◽  
Environmental Activism ◽  
Fan Studies ◽  
Living World ◽  
Green Approach ◽  
A Value ◽  
Value Shift ◽  
Mythological Studies

This chapter considers fan studies in a mythological studies context and examines how green studies might use a similar approach to tap into the cultural and mythic power of modern fandoms. The first part defines the components of myth, considers existing fandom studies theories related to those components, and discusses on how fandom studies could impact the larger mythological studies debate. The second part describes the mythological roots of today's environmental crises and discusses the influence of specific fandoms on environmental activism. The chapter closes with some thoughts on how a mythological and green approach to fandom could provide further cultural impetus to positive environmental values much as feminist, ethnic, and queer perspectives on fandom have highlighted and supported a value shift in society as a whole.

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