Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2004. / Advisor: Paul Murgatroyd.

Orientador: Ana Luiza Silva Camarani / Banca: Maria Cecília Queiroz de Moraes Pinto / Banca: Maria Célia de Moraes Leonel / Resumo: O tema desta pesquisa é a primazia do princípio arquetípico feminino no romance Maíra, do antropólogo e romancista mineiro Darcy Ribeiro. Ao ficcionalizar o Outro e a questão da alteridade, Darcy Ribeiro faz predominar, no romance indigenista Maíra, imagens e recursos narrativos característicos do imaginário antropológico feminino e alusivos a uma cosmovisão prépatriarcal. Por meio da tese de Humberto Maturana, sobre a existência de culturas matrilineares ou matrísticas antes do patriarcado, e da divisão do imaginário em dois regimes, nas teorias de Gilbert Durand, procura-se demonstrar como a ficção de Darcy Ribeiro inverte paradigmas da narrativa tradicionalmente elaborada pelo ocidente patriarcal. Apoiando-se numa poética que gravita em torno de símbolos e imagens do corpo, da morte pacificada e do caos, Maíra positiva valores que o patriarcado sempre negou. Para apoiar esta análise, recorre-se ainda a outros autores da crítica mítica e da abordagem antropológica, como E. M. Meletínski, Mircea Eliade, Joseph Campbell e Erich Neumann, bem como à abordagem temática desenvolvida nos trabalhos de Gaston Bachelard. / Abstract: El tema de esta pesquisa es la primacía del principio arquetipico femenino en la novela Maíra, del antropólogo y romancista minero Darcy Ribeiro. Al ficcionalizar el Otro y la cuestión de la alteridad, Darcy Ribeiro hace predominar, en la novela indigenista Maíra, imágenes y recursos narrativos característicos del imaginario antropológico femenino y alusivos a una cosmovisión ante-patriarcal. A través de la tesis de Humberto Maturana, sobre la existencia de culturas matrilineares antes del patriarcado, y de la división del imaginario en dos regímenes, en las teorías de Gilbert Durand, busca-se demostrar como la ficción de Darcy Ribeiro invierte paradigmas de la narrativa tradicionalmente elaborada por el occidente patriarcal. Apoyándose en una poética que gravita en torno de símbolos y imágenes del cuerpo, de la muerte pacificada y del caos, Maíra positiva valores que el patriarcado siempre niego. Para apoyar esta análisis, recorre-se también a otros autores de la crítica mítica y de la abordaje antropológica, como Meletínski, Eliade, Campbell e Neumann, así como a la abordaje temática desarrollada por los trabajos de Gaston Bachelard. / Mestre

Most primitive mythologies recognize that suffering can provide an opportunity for growth, but Western man has developed a mythology in which suffering is considered evil. He conceives of some power in the universe which will oppose evil and abolish it for him; God, and more recently science an, technology, were the hoped-for saviors that would rescue him. Both have been disappointing as saviors, and Western culture seems paralyzed by its confrontation with a future which seems death-filled. The primitive conception of death as that through which one passes in initiatory suffering has been unavailable because the mythologies in which it was framed are outdated. However, some post-World-War-II novels are reflecting a new mythology which recognizes the threat of death as the terrifying face the universe shows during initiation. A few of these novels tap deep psychological sources from which mythical images traditionally come and reflect the necessity of the passage through the hell of initiation without hope of a savior. One of the best of these is Wright Morris's The Field of Vision, in which the Scanlon story is a central statement of the mythological ground ahead. This gripping tale uses the pioneer journey west to tell of the mysterious passage the unconscious can make through the ccntempoorary desert to win the bride of life. It serves as an illuminator and normative guide for evaluating how other novels avoid or confront the initiatory hell. By the Scanlon standard, some contemporary mythology is escapist. Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.'s Cat's Cradle express the youthful desire to arrive almost automatically at a new age, either with help from a new Christ or through practicing a simplistic morality. Other novels tell of the agony of modern Grail questers who sense that a viable myth is possible, but cannot completely envision it nor accomplish the passage through the void to gain it. The hindrances in each case are powerful forces which exert control over society. These forces are scientific objectivity and racism in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and an unbeatable Combine which forces people to be rabbits and like it in Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Thomas Pynchon's The Cring of Lot 49 makes clear thet the confining forces are sustained because the secret of life has been lost, and man needs protection from the void which he cannot face without the secret. Saul Bellow deals directly with mythologies in Mr. Sammler's Planet. On the one hand is the popular view which ignores what every man knows is right and asserts instead that whatever one wants, he should have. This view replaces the archetypal sustaining images with a myth of continuous progress which, now that progress has faltered, makes living seem overwhelmingly hopeless. However, Sammler believes that meaning is established in life even as it collapses. The good man is part of an elite which is unusually intelligent and discerning, able to develop the will to carry out the contract with life and to enjoy the mystic potency in living. The novels in this study indicate a trend toward a reformulation of the basic mythological structures of Western man. Possibly the belief is weakening that something from somewhere will save him from his given situation, and a mythology is emerging which tells of significant life in the common, discovered through an awareness of the archetypal consciousness.

Medea’s powerful ability to inspire and confuse is at the core of this study. The contradiction concerning Euripides’ character of Medea as a murderer and a victim will be explored in order to understand what implications this would have held for an ancient Greek audience. Thus the irregularities in this female character will be used to indicate the inconsistencies within the society from which Euripides was writing. Women’s lack of freedom in ancient Greece, their confinement to the house and their lack of opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns produced an imbalance in society. This masculine community led to extremes in behaviour. Male heroes overemphasised traits which stressed their physical prowess and masculine bravery. As a hero, Jason’s all-consuming ambition was to succeed in endeavours such as the quest for the Golden Fleece, and to reclaim his title of king. He took advantage of Medea’s gifts until she was no longer of any use to him and then left her for a younger, more beneficial princess to accomplish his subsequent task of gaining a kingdom. Medea’s excessive behaviour was a protest against her position as supportive wife when she found that Jason had neglected his obligation as a protective husband. Euripides’ tragedy was a rebellion against a cultural definition of men and women which did not work. Men were pressured into being the sole providers and authorities over a whole household, whereas women were relegated to the status of possessions. The situation generally suited men, but women were not given a choice of career and had their marriage prearranged by their fathers. More importantly they were not provided with an opportunity to voice their displeasure and were in the hands of fate, whether they attained a kind or a cruel husband. This study argues that by challenging the definition of heroes and victims, Euripides questioned the preconceived perceptions of the nature of women and foreigners. He was also commenting on social restriction and the possible consequences of restraining women’s behaviour and their opinions. / Prof. J.L.P. Wolmarans

The novel Children Of The Earth is about transformation. It uses Ovid's Metamorphoses as a metaphor for the processes which occur in the psyche of each character, and is based on Jungian insights into myth and alchemy. Archetypes that underlie the unconscious processes of all humanity are seen in the symbolism of three very different religious traditions, namely Greek mythology, the Hebrew Old Testament and Australian Aboriginal beliefs. I explore the ways in which these three great mythologies might have converged in colonial South Australia. The story deals with the troubled marriage of isolated settler couple, Hestia and Adam George, and the effects on it of three people who come into their lives. Itinerant German mineralogist Johannes Menge ( based on a real life pioneer ) is a self-taught, eccentric polymath, and a devout but unorthodox exponent of the Bible. In Jungian terms he fulfils the role of an archetypal, but flawed, ' Wise Old Man'. Menge represents nineteenth century Protestantism, albeit still trailing some arcane superstitions. His protégé, a disgraced young teacher of classics, calls himself Hermes, and represents the role of Greek mythology in European civilization. Reliving the life of the mercurial god in the antipodes, he becomes messenger, trickster and seducer. Unatildi, an Indigenous girl whom Adam finds in a burnt-out tree trunk, is an archetypal maiden. She introduces the Europeans to the mythology of their new land, as sacred for her people as the Bible is for Johannes Menge. Each of these three characters plays a part in transforming the marriage of Adam and Hestia, and each, in turn, undergoes a personal metamorphosis. Aboriginal women act as midwives at the birth of the love-child of Hestia and Hermes. Named Sophia, after the goddess of wisdom, the new child is thought to have inherited the miwi spirit of Unatildi's lost infant. On his deathbed, as Menge bequeaths his wisdom to his Australian friends, he predicts that Sophia will understand the sacredness of all spiritual life. Eventually Hestia and Adam find themselves changed by their encounters with the archetypes of myth. News of Menge's death on the goldfields gives them the courage they need to begin rebuilding an honest relationship. The novel is 107,400 words in length and is accompanied by an exegesis of 20,170 word, entitled Myth And Alchemy In Creative Writing. The exegesis describes the interactive process of researching and writing, as well as exploring the value of Jungian concepts for creative writing, and current issues of creating Indigenous characters. There is an emphasis on the Jungian approach to mythology and alchemy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Humanities, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisor: Howard Jones. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 264-272). Also available via World Wide Web.

The author's Habilitationsschrift--Universität Kiel, 1969. / Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. [169]-171).

Diss.--Zürich. / Bibliography: p. 217-223.

Texte remanié de : Dissertation : Philosophie : Universität des Saarlandes : 1985. / Bibliogr. p. 351-359. Notes bibliogr. Index.

D. Tech. Language Practice / The graphic novel has become the means through which a generation of contemporary writers has chosen to communicate the myths of our time to the world, yet unlike their counterparts in classic mythology, they have not yet enjoyed the same depths of investigation. As a medium with the ability to conjure up powerful, emotive reactions, the graphic novel is now in need of a means of substantiating the responses and reactions to the medium. This study has set out to prove that through the utilisation of a three-pronged analytic model that incorporates analytical approaches from the schools of Myth- and Archetypal Criticism, visual analysis, and particularly Linguistic Criticism an authoritative literary critique can be produced on a graphic novel that would reveal and comment on the three primary constituents of the medium, namely: language; story; and graphic illustration. In addition, this study has aimed to provide contextualisation for the nature and development of the graphic novel against the backdrop of postmodernism for the purposes of explaining the sociological, cultural and temporal influences that prompted and promoted the development of the comic book into what we now know as the graphic novel. A secondary aim of this study has been to provide further legitimacy to the concept of contemporary mythology through the exploration of this controversial concept and, by virtue thereof, set the scene for the incorporation of Myth-criticism into a multi-pronged analytic model.