Olha Kudelska
Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University
Scientific Supervisor: PhD, Pradivlianna L.M.
MYTHOEPIC MODELS IN THE CONTEXT OF FANTASY GENRE WORKS
Abstract
The presence of specific time and space in the works of the fantasy genre can be identified as one of the most important features which characterizes this genre and shows that it is directly related to the mythological tradition.
Keywords: mythology, Hobbit, mythopoeic, fantasy, hero’s journey, macrocosm, syncretism
Mythology and literature are two cultural phenomena with intricate structure and impressive history of establishment. The phenomenon of fantasy, appearing relatively recently, currently exists within the genre system of fiction and has its own specific features, which are the result of a long and complex evolutionary process affected by mythological and romantic traditions.
Fantasy reinterprets and transforms both these traditions in a peculiar way by including mythological and romantic components in the formation process of a specific manner of narrative and substantial aspects of the fantasy genre.
Analyzing the connection between the myth and the fantasy genre, first of all one should pay attention to such feature present in both phenomena as the identification of the microcosm and the macrocosm. According to one of the definitions of the genre, “fantasy is always based on either a revised canonical system of myths or the original author’s mythopoeic concept, the most important feature of which is the creation of a secondary world (a holistic picture of the world and human), where human is a microcosm in the macrocosm system” [2, p.98].
The identification of the microcosm and the macrocosm is a characteristic of classical mythological system, as well as the space-time syncretism, reflected in the features of the fantasy genre and characterized as “magic” – the connection of the character with certain places, visions, artifacts, etc. Magic is often an integral feature of the fantasy world, which brings it closer to the mythological tradition. Mythological consciousness is syncretic: it establishes connections between objects and phenomena that do not interact in reality. It performs a similar function in fantasy literature and it is worth mentioning that fantasy is often called the “genre of sword and magic”, so there are a huge number of types of magical interaction with real world.
Metelinsky claimed that the presence of a specific time and space in the works of the fantasy genre can be identified as one of the most important features that characterizes this genre and shows that it is directly related to the mythological tradition [1, p.75]. Logical chronotope is one of the main characteristics of the genre – the author tells about the world, existing on its own with special laws that are mythological by essence; the identification of the microcosm and macrocosm and close interaction with nature anyway are present in the works of classical fantasy, giving the chronotope mythological traits.
To create specific chronotope in fantasy works, powerful mythological components were used, but in the XX century, people were not seriously interested in distant and not always clear plots from mythology, the Germanic epic and even chivalry novels. In order to breathe life into the old forms the authors of classic fantasy combined two powerful components: a mythological base that forms reader’s conception of the world with idealistic features and Romantic tradition, facilitating the reader to experience fate of the lyrical hero.
In more detail, this relationship can be considered by analyzing the main types of characters and plot schemes of this genre. The main character types (in the fantasy genre) – people with magical abilities (magicians, druids, visionaries, etc.) or with magical items (knights with enchanted weapon), unusual creatures previously presented in medieval bestiaries (dragons, unicorns, werewolves). Plot, as a rule, is standard: it reflects familiar ancient myths initiation rite and is presented in the form of a hero’s journey, his battles with monsters and final salvation of the world. According to Campbell this nature of the hero’s journey is represented by the initial stage, Departure (with five sub-stages), followed by Initiation (six sub-stages), and lastly Return (again six sub-stages); in essence these stages represent the hero setting out on an adventure to an unknown world willingly or less so, traversing some trials and meeting friends and foes, and ultimately returning to their normal world after having completed their quest [4, p.45].
The motive of the path is one of the most important connections of fantasy literature with the aesthetics mythological tradition. Usually, the hero’s journey through the “secondary” world is the basis of the plot of the fantasy work, therefore the motive of the path plays an important role in the structural and substantive organization of such works.
The perfect example of a hero’s journey is “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien. Bilbo Baggins goes through many of the stages identified by Campbell for a hero’s journey such as: being called for adventure, rejection of the opportunity, leaving of his secure house in order to meet the unknown.
We can say that fantasy is a specific genre, in relation to which the statement of T. Ribo is true, that “literature remains a mythology, modified and adapted to changeable conditions of civilization” [quoted in 3, p. 460]. It can be described as a phenomenon the source of which is a mythological tradition.
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- 4. Campbell, Joseph.The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 3rd ed. Novato, CA: New World Library. Print. 432 p.