Myth And Subversion In The Contemporary Novel
Resumen del Libro
This bilingual work identifies and explains the subversive rewriting of ancient, medieval and modern myths in contemporary novels. The book opens with two theoretical essays on the subject of subversive tendencies and myth reinvention in the contemporary novel. From there, it moves on to the analysis of essential texts. Firstly, classical myths in works by authors such as Andrè Gide, Thomas Pynchon, Julio Cortàzar, Italo Calvino or Christa Wolf (for instance, Theseus, Oedipus or Medea) are discussed. Then, myths of biblical origin – such as the Flood or the Golem – are revisited in the work of Giorgio Bassani, Julian Barnes and Cynthia Ozick. A further section is concerned with the place of modern myths (Faust, the ghost, Ophelia…) in the fiction of Günter Grass, Paul Auster, or Clara Janès. The contributors have also delved into the relationship between myth and art – especially in the discourse of contemporary advertising, painting and cinema – and myths intercultural dimensions: hybridity in the Latin American novels of Augusto Roa Bastos and Carlos Fuentes, and in the Hindu-themed novels of Bharati Mukherjee. This volume emerges from the careful selection of 37 essays out of over 200 which were put forward by outstanding scholars from 25 different countries for the Madrid International Conference on Myth and Subversion (March 2011). Este volumen bilingüe identifica y explica la pràctica subversiva aplicada a los mitos antiguos, medievales y modernos en la novela contemporànea. Abren el libro dos estudios teòricos sobre la tendencia subversiva y la reinvenciòn de mitos en la actualidad. Prosigue el anàlisis de diversos textos de primera importancia. En primer lugar se revisan los mitos clàsicos en autores como Andrè Gide, Thomas Pynchon, Julio Cortàzar, Italo Calvino o Christa Wolf (p. ej., Teseo, Edipo, Medea). En segundo lugar, la reescritura de los mitos bìblicos segùn Giorgio Bassani, Julian Barnes o Cynthia Ozick (p. ej., el diluvio o el…
