MYTHOSREZEPTION IN CHRISTOPH RANSMAYRS DIE LETZTE WELT (1988) UND CHRISTA WOLFS MEDEA. STIMMEN (1996)

• Authors: Hilda Schauer

Title variants

EN

MYTH RECEPTION IN CHRISTOPH RANSMAYR’S DIE LETZTE WELT (1988) AND CHRISTA WOLF’S MEDEA. STIMMEN (1996)

• Languages of publication: DE

Abstracts

EN

In connection with the novels The Last World by Christoph Ransmayr and Medea. Voices by Christa Wolf, it can be pointed out that in both works the question of the reception of the myth plays an important role. Ransmayr draws upon the narrative structures of the myth; his work is an example for the aesthetization of the myth, the transition of the myth into mythology. In her work Wolf discusses the correctness of earlier myth receptions; she provides her narrative with a historical background and considers her Medea-representation as a correction of earlier Medea-adaptations. Both works criticise the space seen as the center of rationality (Rome, Corinth), at the same time none of them consider the world of the myth to be an alternative. In Ransmayr’s work, the ideas of the renaturalization of the civilization and the end of human civilization are emphatic. One of Wolf’s central themes is the transition of matriarchy into patriarchy, and within it the question of the woman. Both works draw a parallel between the social problems of the antique world and those of the 20th century.

Keywords

EN

poetology; myth reception; history

• Publisher: Inter Litteras Research Centre, STEFAN CEL MARE University, Suceava, Romania; STEFAN CEL MARE Publishing House
• Journal: Concordia Discors vs Discordia Concors: Researches into Comparative Literature, Contrastive Linguistics, Cross-Cultural and Translation Strategies
• Year: 2009
• Volume: 1
• Pages: 13-30

Contributors

author

Hilda Schauer

• [e-mail]
• Pécs University, Hungary