Teorie mitu. Współczesne literaturoznawstwo francuskie (1969-2010)

Theories of Myth. French Literary Studies (1969-2010)

The author summarizes the results of his research on the relationship between myth and literature. He discusses the universal theoretical and literary issues, such as the concepts of literary myth, mythical roots of literature, myths as a source of literary inspirations, myth creating function of literature, types of myth transformations in the texts of various writers and the ways of functioning of the mythical stories and the mythical figures in the literary text. The author systematizes the most important literary issues, e.g. the differences between myth, fairy tale and legend. He also provides a detailed discussion of the traditional and latest methods of studies on myths in literature, as well as the most recent theories concerning the relationship between myth and literature.

Keywords: myth, literary myth, myth criticism, definition of myth, Gilbert Durand, Pierre Brunel.