Original scientific paper
Towards the Other Mythology – The Offspring of Darkness: Jocasta’s Daughters and Granddaughters
Ivan Lozica
Abstract
»It all started with the doubt (perhaps exaggerated) that the Gods do not know how to talk«1. The author presents the
situation and tendencies in contemporary mythological research. The article starts out from the mythos-logos antithesis
and from the twofold conception of the myth as both a fabricated and a sacred story. The allopersonages as characters of
different names, who function as markers for the identical element in the structure, are contrasted by the author with the
isopersonages bearing names of the same characters, who simultaneously function as markers for diverse elements or semantic
strata in the structure. The term sociogony is introduced in analogy to the terms theogony and cosmogony. On the
basis of a review of Croatian and mainstream mythological trends, the author perceives two main orientations in mythological
research: the historical reconstruction of the Proto-Slavic myth, and research into the myth, mythic consciousness
and mythic language in contemporary everyday life. The author supports the idea of differentiating mythology and religion
and analyses the role of the myth, and scholarship on the myth, in forming national and cultural identity. From
that aspect, we can also identify the contemporary transitional scholarly myth in today’s reconstructions of the unifed
Proto-Slavic myth. Remythologisation is part of retraditionalisation: Proto-Slavic fellowship is the spiritual solace by
which the East responds to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
Keywords
Croatian mythology; Proto-Slavic myth; remythologisation; allopersonages; isopersonages; cultural identity
Hrčak ID:
34077
URI
Publication date:
1.12.2008.
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