What is national mythology?

I N T R O D U C T I O N.

Вид. центр КНЛУ, 2015

Методичні рекомендації до курсу “Історія літератури США (Національна міфологія в літературі і культурі США.” – К.: Вид. Центр КНЛУ, 2015 – 73 с.

Висоцька Н.О.

Видавничий центр КНЛУ

KИЇВ

Kyiv-2015

A COURSE GUIDE

NATIONAL MYTHOLOGY IN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURE

KYIV NATIONAL LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY FOR EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF UKRAINE

МІНІСТЕРСТВО ОСВІТИ І НАУКИ УКРАЇНИ

КИЇВСЬКИЙ НАЦІОНАЛЬНИЙ ЛІНГВІСТИЧНИЙ УНІВЕРСИТЕТ

МЕТОДИЧНІ РЕКОМЕНДАЦІЇ ДО КУРСУ “ІСТОРІЯ ЛІТЕРАТУРИ США (НАЦІОНАЛЬНА МІФОЛОГІЯ В ЛІТЕРАТУРІ І КУЛЬТУРІ США)”

УДК 821.111 (73)

Автор:: Висоцька Н.О., доктор філологічних наук, професор

Рецензенти: Шимчишин М.М., доктор філологічних наук, доцент

Рикова Г.С., кандидат філологічних наук, доцент

Друкується за рішенням вченої ради

Київського національного лінгвістичного університету

(Протокол №6 від 23 січня 2012 р.)

© Висоцька Н.О., 2015

For the purposes of this course, myth is understood as a story performing three functions:

· telling about the historical origins of a given established order

· instrumental in setting a model or a norm of social behavior and substantiating law and ethos

· manifesting itself in rituals and serving to accomplish immediate rallying of individuals in collective actions.

In a society, these functions are normally distributed between various spheres of cultures (science offers the study of history and natural processes, law and ethics word the norms, art unites individuals spiritually). The synthesis of the three functions in one is possible when they are ascribed sacred nature.

Myth as a story about history is not subject to doubt or verification, because “there should be something sacred”. Individual concepts lying at the core of a myth are called mythologems.

In the long run, a myth is actualized in a mystery seen as a sacred act. Taking part in the mystery, that is, performing certain rituals, the participants seem to repeat the sacred historical event again and again. As an example of such a ritual action, we can cite a festival or celebration that seems to transpose the participants into the past “sacred” event. Therefore, myth is characterized by “sacred” time that seems to be beyond history; one can plunge into it every time when a mythological action is performed.

A historical tale becomes mythological not because it is supernatural, but due to its function: to deduce the present time from certain historical sources, to accept them as “sacred”, to point out there the behavioral norms and through the rituals (above all, celebrations) to unite the contemporaneity with “eternal” past, re-enacting it again and again through art and ritual.

Therefore, national mythology includes (historical) stories and concepts viewed by most representatives of a nation as fundamental for their self-identity. In time, however, many of such basic national myths undergo deconstruction, are denied or modified.

Authors of various concepts of nation and nation formation dwell upon different aspects of myth in this process – Ernest Renan, Ernest Gellner, Anthony Smith, Eric Hobsbaum, Benedict Anderson, Kurt Hubner, Etien Balibard, Homi Bhabha, etc. Scholars studying American national mythology include Sacwan Bercowitch, Daniel Burstin, Richard Dorson and others.

Myth is an important link uniting individuals into a nation; without them it is but a group of separate persons. Roland Barthes defines myth as an utterance that can relate to anything and exist in a variety of forms: a letter, a picture; any object that is a message and is endowed with social usus imposed upon matter. Any material bearers of myth envisage consciousness that imparts meaning to them making it possible to perceive them regardless of matter. In bearers of national memory (monuments, documents etc) it is not the object itself that matters, but its symbolic meaning. There are no eternal myths – when the sense is lost, the object turns into mere matter.

Nation can be understood as ethnic, political etc. Accent is made on shared spiritual values. Renan: nation is soul, a spiritual principle. The cult of ancestors; ancestors made us what we are. Heroic past, great people, glory (if it is merited) – here is the main capital underwriting the national idea. Myths of common heritage reflected in collective memory, are long-lived. So “nation” itself may be regarded as myth. Physical objects in which the nation lives and manifests itself, such as architectural monuments, documents, cult places become a part of everybody identifying with the nation. Unity of the physical and the spiritual (Kurt Hubner). Role of national myths in shaping statehood.

Myth of origins has long been magic for any state (Rome, Britain etc.). It is substantial for self-assertion and self-identifying. Nation’s collective identity, however, is not stable, it changes with generations, events. In the USA it is polycultural. Lack of conventional ties linking people to the state; they had to be substituted by new ideas – dream of religious, later political liberty, paradise on earth.

A.Smith writes of hybrid culture in globalized world that is universal, technogenic and timeless. Demythologization of nation, superficial understanding of national symbols. Mass media, technogenic culture result in homogeneity and standardization devaluing memories, traditions, myths. New myths of globalized/mass culture. How to preserve traditional culture?

American way of life takes its roots in supra-national idea – it does not owe its origin to any separate tradition, but is based on individuals and current demands (Kurt Hubner).

Дата добавления: 2015-06-27