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New Mythical Wor(l)ds
Transferring Myths from Folk Poetry to Post Modern Literature

Eliisa Pitkäsalo (BDF, Szombathely, Hungary) [BIO]

Email: peliisa@bdf.hu

ABSTRACT:

The transfer of a myth from archaic mythology to contemporary literature invariably gives rise to a number of questions. Examining the use of the mythical segments as told in Finnish folk poetry we can observe the significances they get in a new context. Myths have lost their sacred significance which they had at ancient times: myths are no more performed as religious rites; rather they are used on special way while concentrating on the present-day arts, in our case on the post modern literature. The aim of this paper is to concentrate on the use of archaic elements in post modern literature, by taking under closer examination Sankarit (The Heroes), a novel written by Johanna Sinisalo, a Finnish contemporary writer. In this paper, I am trying to find out what happens for archaic myths when transferring them to a new context.