I. A. Edoshina. Myth, mythologeme, mythem 6 in the context of the activity approach to cultural phenomena

CULTUROLOGY

I. A. Edoshina

MYTH, MYTHOLOGEM, MYTHEME IN THE CONTEXT OF ACTIVITY APPROACH TO CULTURAL PHENOMENA

Disclosure of the essential specifics of myth, mythologeme, mytheme brings the author of the article to the understanding of culture as an activity phenomenon. It is emphasized that, despite all the differences, both the mythologeme and the mytheme are closely connected with the myth, grow out of it and cannot be adequately perceived outside of their source.

Opening the essential specific of myth, mythologeme, mytheme is guide the author of the article to the consciousness of culture as an active phenomena. In spite of their differences, mythologeme and mytheme are closely connected with myth, grow up from it and couldn't be adequately interpret without it source.

Key words: myth, mythologeme, mytheme, activity approach, culture.

Keywords: muth, mythology, mytheme, action approach, culture.

The myth as a concept has long and steadily belonged to the field of humanitarian knowledge. However, there are no fewer definitions of what is a myth than, for example, what is culture. In no way setting myself the task of generalizing all the available definitions, I will turn only to those that are basic for my reflections.

The well-known definition of O. M. Freidenberg - “a myth ... is not able to express anything but itself”, clearly indicates that a myth is only what it is. Myth in its archaic version is self-sufficient and self-contained. Therefore, it seems important (for the correlation of the bases of the differentiation indicated in the title) to turn to the linguoculturological aspect of the word "myth".

This lexeme - cibod - is of Greek origin and means "word". Its archaism is important, which is quite natural, since this word recorded such a significant characteristic of consciousness as

indivisibility. For this reason, the Greeks fixed ideas about the integrity of being in the word "cybod". That is why, as a word, cibod cannot be understood as a legend or a fairy tale. In this word, a person’s ideas about the world were deposited: “Myth is the oldest form of mastering the world, generalizing in one word the multiple specificities of life.” As a way of comprehending the world, myth is eternal and, for example, according to A.F. Losev or B. Malinovsky, is real.

However, the "thought" was clothed in the form of cibods, as in the one-root - |aibeo|Sh1 "I speak, I talk, I think over." It clearly follows from this that thought was understood by the Greeks as a myth in two aspects. The first is related to the fact that thought is able to grasp the world as a whole, which, as already noted, is inherent in the very nature of myth. The second one is revealed in the situation of presenting thought as a myth in a sensually perceived form. In other words, "thought" is related to myth, provided that there is no pure abstraction in the thought itself.

Thus, the meaning-forming core of the myth is determined by the essential connection with the world outlook and sensual forms of its representation. It is for this reason that classical philology emphasizes the fundamental difference between cibod as a phenomenon of archaic syncretism and Abuod as evidence of the development of analytical thinking.

In the Greek language, ciboAbugtssh (mythologeme) in the literal sense - "word, speech". Then follow: "conversation, conversation; advice, indication; subject of discussion, question; plan, plan; saying, saying; rumors, news, news; story, story, narration; legend, tradition, myth; fairy tale, fable; plot , plot". All of the above semantic nuances were formed on the basis of the synthesis of two roots that go back to the noun cibod "word" and the verb Aeyegu in the meaning of "gather together". Collected together, the words give a text, that is, a mythologeme, the characteristic features of which in this case are the presence of a plot and a communicative orientation. Let us turn to the available definitions.

So, O. M. Freidenberg sees a poetic retelling in the mythologeme. As we see, in this definition, for all its brevity,

Culturology

cheny main meanings. The mythologeme reflects one of the essential features of the ancient worldview, which consists in giving rhythm (and the poetic text is always rhythmically organized in one way or another) the function of a kind of “clamp” of different aspects of the knowledge of the world. In the word "retelling" an important (for understanding the essence of the definition) function is performed by the prefix "re". This prefix refers to word-forming elements, but is not limited to them. A change in form inevitably entails new semantic nuances. In this case, while maintaining the general narrativity (skaz), it is indicated that it is presented in a different way.

The most detailed description of the mythologeme is given by K. G. Jung's student and follower - K. Kerenyi. He directly relates the mythologeme to the narrative "about gods and god-like beings, heroic battles and journeys into the underworld", thus connecting the mythologeme with the myth itself: "A myth is a recreation of primitive reality in the form of a narrative". Mythologeme belongs to special narratives, well known, which, from the point of view of Kerenyi, contains the potential for new creativity. Fame implies a plurality of perceptions and interpretations, which gives the narrative a certain content incompleteness. Mythologeme is designed to consolidate the discovered meaning.

On the other hand, "if we are talking about a genuine mythologeme, then this meaning is something that cannot be as well and fully expressed in a non-mythological way." Therefore, even "hardening in the form of sacred traditions, mythologems nevertheless retain the properties of works of art."

In Kerenya's reflections, the mythologeme is a whole, within which the very process of comprehension brings satisfaction comparable to the semantic content of music.

Finally, “with the help of images from the field of human and plant evolution, mythologemes ... point, like road posts, to our mythological “foundation” - a journey to arr“1, a journey that culminates in the rediscovery of the same symbols” . Mythologemes, being in the plot field of myth, are called upon to play the role of metaplots, the whole task of which is to eternally return to the mythology of the origin of the source of life.

According to S. S. Khoruzhy, the words "mythologeme" and "legend" are synonymous, that is, the plot nature of the phenomenon under study is again emphasized. It is further clarified that the mythologeme, "embodied in personal destiny, clothed in the concreteness of the actions and circumstances of a certain person, inseparably grows together

with this person, makes her a personal mythologeme. It is worth noting the paradoxical, antinomic nature of this concept. Mythologems, of course, belong to the realm of the general, the universal, and their number in everyday life of any culture is by no means unlimited; but at the same time they turn out to be a way and a tool for asserting the unique uniqueness of human destiny. The antinomic nature of the mythologeme reflects one of the characteristic aspects of being - discontinuity. The world is not so much developing progressively (growing) as it rotates in a system of once and for all given coordinates: life initially includes death as an inevitable potentiality of being, death interrupts a specific form of life, but life as a whole is inaccessible to death. In the world, something always ends and at the same time something is always born.

The very definition of "personal mythologeme" fits perfectly into the understanding of mythologeme as a semantic field of myth. The search and finding of meaning form the creative aspect of the personal comprehension of the myth, which is represented in the mythologeme.

Thus, the mythologeme gives the universal content of the myth individual outlines, which are fixed in the meanings grasped by consciousness and receive an artistic form. At the same time, the “genuine” mythologeme always remains within the essence of the myth, while the “personal” mythologeme, preserving the external signs of this essence, seeks to fill them with a purely personal content. Genuine mythologeme seeks to find the source of being, personal mythologeme is more concerned with the forms of representation of one's own creativity.

Mitheme (Greek Mibeitsa - a narrative that involves a presentation [story] not of the entire plot, but only of an episode) is interpreted by K. Levi-Strauss as a “short phrase” containing a “bundle of relationships”. Moreover, this “short phrase” can be defined as a mythological plot truncated to one detail, as well as an indirect transfer of the essence of the ancient worldview.

The basis of the myth is the need to “disguise”, hide the connection between a person and a totem. In turn, this connection finds indirect expression in metaphor. As an example: “The life of a bat is the life of a man”, options for possible “bundles of relationships”: “belief in the reincarnation of each of the

I. A. Edoshina. Myth, mythologeme, mytheme in the context of the activity approach to cultural phenomena

fishing in the appropriate animal form or friendly or fraternal bond. Or: “The twins are “the essence of birds” not because they mix with them or are similar to them, but because they relate to other people as “people from above” to “people from below”, and act among birds as “birds from below” in relation to "birds from above". it is a metaphorical connection. the animal world is conceived in terms of the social world.

Hence, mythological thinking is completely determined by mytheme as a new ordering of already existing elements, the nature of which does not change. All these "ensembles of structures" are created through language. Therefore, the myth, in the definition of Levi-Strauss, is “a set of events (since some kind of story is told in every myth)”. A "set of events" can easily be both assembled and parsed. In this case, a mytheme is an extremely small part of the general structure, which is in search of a dialogue with it.

Thus, the mytheme is completely determined by the intellectual activity of consciousness. Mytheme consolidates the understanding of myth as a metaphorical mobile structure.

In the verbal "chain" myth-mythologeme-mytheme, possible (and already formed) approaches to understanding culture as an activity phenomenon are clearly presented. The universality and integrity of the myth as a way of comprehending the world is organically combined with sensually perceived forms of its representation, for example, in ancient sculpture. The sensual principle, which makes myth related to man, moves him to artistic activity, and through it to the realization of his own uniqueness. This kind of activity process is enshrined in the mythologeme. The plot, truncated to the point of mi-theme, testifies to its mobility and ability to structure on a dialogic basis. As a result, a system of metaphorical naming is born, which directly depends on the plans of content and expression, the context and functional specifics of the metaphorical sign. Hence the corresponding type of activity - purely intellectual.

Despite all the differences, both mythologeme and mytheme are closely related to myth and cannot be adequately perceived outside of their source. Thus, all types of human activity are united in culture, comprehended and evaluated within its limits not in a flat factual way, but in volume, on the basis of the reconstruction of the internal logic that correlates with the era. Cultural activity is one of the responses of mankind in the forms of mythologeme and mythem to the challenges of myth.

As vivid examples of this kind of activity, one can name the work of J. Joy-

sa and J. Fowles, X. L. Borges and X. Cortazar, A. M. Remizov and V. V. Rozanov. As well as the scientific research of J. Frazer, J. Campbell, K. G. Jung, K. Kerenyi, M. Eliade, V. V. Latyshev, F. F. Zelinsky, A. F. Losev, O. M. Frei- denberg. In their works, based on empirical material, the main parameters of mythological thinking in its entirety are revealed and forms of its loss are given. This inevitability of loss gives the whole cultural activities mankind has a bitter aftertaste and determines the inevitability of its dramatic existence.

Notes

1. Freidenberg O. M. Myth and literature of antiquity. M.: Nauka, 1978. S. 48-49.

2. For more details, see the book: Takho-Godi A.A. Greek mythology. M.: Art, 1989. S. 7-8.

3. Losev A. F. Genesis - name - space / comp. and ed. A. A. Takho-Godi. M.: Thought, 1993. P. 20. Quoted from the introductory article by A. A. Takho-Go-di.

4. Losev A.F. Genesis - name - space. S. 28; Malinovsky B. Magic, science and religion: per. from English. / comp. S. L. Udovik; scientific ed. Yu. A. Artemova; per. A. P. Khomik, ed. A. Yu. Artemova. M.: Refl-book, 1998. S. 98.

5. See, for example: Averintsev S.S. Sobr. op. Sophia - Logos. Dictionary / ed. N. P. Averintseva and K. B. Sigov. Kyiv: SPIRIT I LTERA, 2006. S. 277-278. True, O. M. Freidenberg has a different opinion, see: Freidenberg O. M. Myth and literature of antiquity. pp. 57-62. Her understanding of the Logos is more in line with Judeo-Christian views.

6. Freidenberg O. M. Myth and literature of antiquity. S. 538.

7. Kerenyi K. Prolegomena // Jung K. G. Soul and myth: six archetypes: trans. from English. / comp. V. I. Menzhulin; per. V. V. Naukmanova under the general. ed. A. A. Yudina. Kyiv: State. library for youth, 1996. S. 13.

8. Ibid. S. 17.

9. Ibid. S. 14.

10. Ibid. S. 15.

11. Ibid. S. 20.

12. Ibid. S. 21.

13. Horuzhy S. S. Philosophical symbolism of P. A. Florensky // P. A. Florensky: pro et contra / comp., entry. article, note. K. G. Isupova. St. Petersburg: RKhGI, 1996. S. 527-528.

14. Ibid. P. 528. According to Khoruzhy, Florensky's personal mythologeme is the mythologeme of Eden - the primordial, lost and newly found paradise. The article of the scientist is devoted to understanding the personal mythology of Father Paul.

15. Levi-Strauss K. Primitive thinking / translation, entry. article and note. A. B. Ostrovsky. M.: Respublika, 1994. S. 50.

16. Ibid. S. 62.

17. Ibid. pp. 91-92.

18. Ibid. S. 134.

19. Moskvin V.P. Expressive means of modern Russian speech. Paths and figures: terminological dictionary. Rostov n / a: Phoenix, 2007. S. 400-401.

This article is devoted to the study of the image of the world from the standpoint of the functioning of mythologemes in the general cultural and national context of the language picture of the world, as well as establishing a connection between the traditional semantics of mythologems and their use in the modern English concept sphere. The problems of the correlation of language, thinking and culture are considered from the perspective of the realization of the unreal world, transitional phenomena in the mythological picture of the world are presented as a result of the influence of mass culture and mass media.

mythologeme

language picture of the world

collective unconscious

modern myth

1. Goryunov S.V. On the relationship between mythology and ontology (in the light of the ideas of V.I. Vernadsky) // Noosphere and artistic creativity/ Rev. Ed. V.V. Ivanov. - M., 2009.

2. Pocheptsov G.G. Russian semiotics. – M.: Refl-book, K.: Vakler, 2001. – 768 p.

3. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.-NY.: Scholastic, 2000. - 341 p.

4. Rowling J.K. Harry Potter and Goblet of fire. URL: http://harrypotter.scholastic.com

Mythologems are a meaningful unit of linguistic consciousness, a product of the collective unconscious stored in the national memory of a particular ethnic group, and their evolution in a particular national culture reflects the specifics of their refraction in the linguistic picture of the world.

Myth as a structural component of the mythological picture of the world is a form of a holistic mass experience and interpretation of reality with the help of sensually visual images, which are considered independent phenomena of reality. The myth is syncretic, harmonious, it lacks the boundaries between the natural and the supernatural, the objective and the subjective.

Modern myths are so diverse and multifaceted that they resemble a kind of conveyor production within the framework of mass culture. Mythologemes can be created artificially, to order, quickly spread through the media and become part of the mythological concept sphere. In such cases, it is difficult to draw a line between the traditional mythologeme and the artificial mythologeme. The mythology of everyday thinking allows the use of traditional mythologems not only for their adaptation to modern conditions, but also to create new cult heroes, which reflect the stereotypes formed by the media and popular culture.

In modern society, the myth takes the form of a ritual, a cult, and the change in the semantics of the supernatural occurs as a result of the technization of society. Along with the so-called social regulation, there is a technization of sensors (sense organs), processors (memory) and effectors (models), as well as communication tools, which is the basis of semantic changes. In other words, the transformation of cognitive memory and linguistic conceptual model, conscious and unconscious, is carried out.

The aim of the study is to identify the features of mythological consciousness in the general cultural and national context of the language picture of the world, as well as to establish a connection between the traditional semantics of mythologemes and their use in the modern English concept sphere.

The mythical structures of images and behavior are widely used by the media to influence society as a whole, as well as certain groups - groups of people and individuals. They represent modern versions mythological and folklore heroes who embody the ideals of the general population. Myths, according to G.G. Pocheptsov, characterize mythological communication, since mythological structures are not clearly perceived by the audience, they cannot be rejected due to the autonomy of existence, independent of the individual, and they are also easy to understand. A simplified version of the realization of reality easily captures a mass audience. Ordinary events are described in modern myth, often relying on "certain atypical situations rooted in modernity".

The simplicity of the modern myth against the backdrop of a bright event contributes to the mythologization of its heroes and the formation of a mythological environment that forms the mythological component of mass consciousness. The modern myth is affirmed in the mass consciousness in completely new conditions, realizing spatio-temporal relations in a new way. The spatial framework has expanded so much that it is now permissible to talk about the globalization of the mythological environment. The time for the spread of a modern myth has been reduced so much that it is possible to assert the instantaneousness of its creation and distribution, as well as the involvement of each representative of society in its formation. The change in the spatio-temporal components of the mythological environment or situation has become real due to the development of the media, in particular television, new global communication systems such as the Internet.

A brief review of modern myths allows us to state a complex branched system of mythology that preserves traditional mythologemes and transforms them in new conditions. The mythological concept sphere mirrors the diversity of reality and projects painful points of being in myths that cannot be explained from the standpoint of a rational approach. The mythology of thinking in the modern period is actively used by ideology and mass culture to develop, preserve and develop stereotypes of everyday consciousness.

A whole layer of ancient myths is hidden under later layers and, manifesting itself in the collective unconscious of a single ethnic group, is the so-called "national color". This national flavor in the works of J. Rowling was the Celtic culture. Against the backdrop of more recognizable medieval values such as philosopher's Stone or the basilisk, the Scandinavian paradigm, recognized by the Anglo-Saxons and manifested in the runes and the ubiquitous classical mythology of the ancient Greeks, early Celtic mythology is lost, hidden, although it was she who, as a whole, had an immeasurably greater influence on J. Rowling, as a representative of Western European culture.

Mythology is a complex heterogeneous system, conditionally divided into higher and lower. Higher mythology is characterized by a limited number of supernatural beings that are distant from man and completely determine his fate due to their divine status. Lower mythology, including such mythical creatures as demons and spirits, represents a significant layer of mythology and reflects the national and cultural specifics of everyday consciousness. In our case, we are interested in representatives of the lower demonarius, widely represented in the works of J. Rowling.

The English lower demonarius is represented by a system of complex transitive appellatives that concretize various generalizing names of supernatural beings of the unreal world. At present, most of the English demonarius is made up of Celtic names and phrases, which emphasizes the well-known conservatism of the English-speaking population of the British Isles. So the concept of the mythological consciousness of the "banshee" came into modern English from Celtic mythology. Since he has Irish roots, one of the characters in the Harry Potter novel, Seamus Finnigan, originally from Ireland, is more than anything afraid of the banshee, imagining her as a witch with floor-length hair and a green face.

… Crack! Where the mummy had been a woman with floorlength black hair and a skeletal, green tinged face—a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Harry’s head stand on end - .

In Irish mythology, a banshee is a ghost witch whose groans and cries herald death. Traditionally, banshees are described as thin women with snow-white faces, long hair, and eyes red with tears. In other sources, there is a description of the banshee as an ugly old woman. The most terrible thing about them is a terrible cry, inviting the living to the kingdom of the dead. According to Irish beliefs, only those who are destined to die hear the cry, but if some great national hero of Ireland should die, then almost the whole country can hear the cry of a banshee. In England, there is still a belief that if a cat suddenly wakes up, raises its head, pricks up its ears, although there is silence around - the cat heard the banshees, which means someone has died.

It is interesting to note that the mythologeme 'banshee' entered the semantics of the phraseological phrase 'to scream like banshee out of hell' - "scream like a banshee in hell". Apparently, this concept was the reason for the appearance in modern popular culture of the name Banshee, meaning an open source music video player for Linux and Mac OSX operating systems.

An example of the representation of the banshee mythologeme in the modern English worldview is the existence of such a comic book character as Banshee, a Marvel Comics superhero who is one of the members of the X-Men team. This character comes from Ireland and has the ability to create supersonic waves of any length, sometimes elusive to the human ear. In the nickname of this character, an allusion to the analyzed mythologeme is clearly traced.

Consider the next representative of the bestiary - a leprechaun, a kind of elves that owns countless treasures hidden underground. In J. Rowling, leprechauns are creatures that own gold and tend to disappear without a trace after a certain time.

Harry, who was on a top bunk above Ron, lay staring up at the canvas ceiling of the tent, watching the glow of an occasional leprechaun lantern flying overhead, and picturing again some of Krum’s more spectacular moves.

For a split second, Harry thought it was another leprechaun formation. Then he realized that it was a colossal skull, comprised of what looked like emerald stars, with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue.

According to Rowling, leprechauns are Ireland's mascot for the Quidditch World Cup. They are depicted as tiny bearded flying men in red camisoles and with a golden or green lamp in their hand.

In the modern English language picture of the world, the image of a leprechaun appeared not so long ago, but it has already acquired stable associations. It is said that leprechauns entered the celebration of St. Patrick's Day quite recently. Companies selling postcards for this holiday needed a cute character to appear in the drawings. And the stern, albeit kind, preacher Saint Patrick was not quite suitable for this role. Now the celebration of not a single St. Patrick's Day (March 17), in any English-speaking country of the world, is complete without a carnival, the main character of which is this hero of myths. Initially, this holiday was a religious holiday. To date, it has become a holiday for all Irish people, moreover, with the use of the traditional color for this country - green. In Ireland, the image of a leprechaun is used to promote tourism in the country. In honor of the leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day, the smallest park in the world (0.61 m in diameter and 0.292 sq. m.), Mill Ends Park, was opened on that day.

In the books of J. Rowling, the images of house elves have no analogues at all. These are house elves, serving the same family until the end of their days. They can gain freedom if the owners give them freedom - they give them some clothes.

"Come, Dobby. I said, come."

But Dobby didn't move. He was holding up Harry's disgusting, slimy sock, and looking at it as though it were a priceless treasure.

"Master has given a sock," said the elf in wonder. "Master gave it to Dobby."

"What's that?" spat Mr. Malfoy. "What did you say?"

"Got a sock," said Dobby in disbelief. "Master threw it, and Dobby caught it, and Dobby—Dobby is free".

In the novel, an elf is a kind of hybrid of a pixie (in appearance), a brownie (in terms of activity) and an artificially created slave-servant like a homunculus, which, if desired, can simply be destroyed as unnecessary or as punishment. But unlike the first, house elves live with human wizards in their world; unlike the second, who himself has power over people who are afraid of his displeasure and demands to please himself, house elves are completely subordinate to people and are deprived of the ability to use magic (they are not even allowed to use magic wands). Finally, unlike the third, they are not the creation of human hands, but represent an independent "race" of the magical world.

Perhaps the most famous image of an elf in modern England is associated with the most popular holiday loved by both adults and children - Christmas. More precisely, with the image of fairy-tale characters that make this holiday possible. We're talking about Santa Claus and his Christmas elves. It is they who are responsible in modern culture for ensuring that every child on Earth receives his well-deserved gift for Christmas. The mythologeme "elf" is so entrenched in the minds of people as an integral attribute of this holiday that several cartoons were created based on these motives, illustrating the role of these creatures ("The Secret Service of Santa Claus", "Elf", "The Nightmare Before Christmas", etc.) .

This character did not go unnoticed in the vocabulary of the language, reflected in the semantics of a number of set expressions: 'elf arrows' - a heap of stones, 'elf shot' - bewitched. The expression ‘elf-lock’ (tangled hair, tangle) gives an unambiguous allusion to the ability of elves to harm people, confusing all their plans and intentions.

As we can see, mythologemes in national cultures have specific characteristics in accordance with the national mythological tradition, with a specific language implementation. But along with the national and cultural features, the mythologems of the modern period are characterized by a standardized character and common international properties, fixed by the media, mass culture and stereotypes that take on a global form. Conceptualized mythologemes tend to adapt to the changing reality, socialize, lose old and acquire new meanings. They are either ideologized, turning into ideologemes, or demythologized, transformed and rethought. Modern reality implements the semantics of the supernatural on different levels, it is reflected in the language of political, religious, cultural and even linguistic myths of mass consciousness, as well as at the level of ordinary individual consciousness.

Bibliographic link

Isina G.I. MYTHOLOGEM AS A COMPONENT OF THE PICTURE OF THE WORLD IN THE CONTEXT OF MODERNITY // International Journal of Applied and fundamental research. - 2015. - No. 4-1. – P. 160-163;
URL: https://applied-research.ru/ru/article/view?id=6607 (date of access: 03.03.2020). We bring to your attention the journals published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural History"

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Introduction

Chapter 1. Mythopoetics as part of poetics

Chapter 2. Relationship between myth and mythopoetics

Chapter 3. The concept of archetype and mythology

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

Among the usual types of analysis of a lyrical text: problem-thematic, genre, stylistic, poetic, etc., a specific approach to poetic creativity, which has received the name "mythopoetics" in the scientific literature, is quite widespread.

What is mythopoetics? It can be said that in mythopoetics the breath of the eternal, the mythical is conveyed through various hidden allusions, which finds its expression in symbolic images, detailed metaphors, polysemantic epithets, stylistic and rhythmic-musical solutions. Mythopoetics is always allusive: allusions and analogies are its daily bread. And they refer to important natural and cultural constants - well-known places, times, legends, obvious general concepts for everyone. An important role in mythopoetics is played by images correlated with the four classical elements, with parts of the body or with stages of life, from embryonic to posthumous, otherworldly.

However, it should be noted that the concepts of mythopoetics and mythologemes are extremely poorly developed in the literature. The definition of mythopoetics can hardly be found in dictionaries and encyclopedias. In contrast to the more developed concept of the archetype, the mythologeme still requires extensive work on its comprehension.

Target this work - to understand and reveal the essence of mythopoetics. As tasks set to achieve this goal, it was necessary to study the literature that introduces into scientific use the concepts of mythologeme, archetype and mythopoetics.

Chapter 1. Mythopoetics as part of poetics

Actually poetics (from the Greek poietike - poetic art) is a section of literary theory that studies the system of means of expression in literary works. General poetics systematizes the repertoire of these means - sound, language, figurative (the so-called topic). Private poetics studies the interaction of these means in creating the "image of the world" and the "image of the author" in individual works or a group of works (the work of a writer, a literary movement, an era, etc.).

Mythopoetics is that part of poetics that explores not individual mythologemes mastered by the artist, but the integral mythopoetic model of the world recreated by him (if it exists in the text) and, accordingly, his mythological consciousness, realized in the system of symbols and other poetic categories.

What, from the point of view of non-mythological consciousness, is different, dissected, subject to comparison, in myth acts as a variant (isomorph) of a single event, character or text. Lotman Yu. M., Mints Z. G., Meletinsky E. M. Literature and myths // Myths of the peoples of the world: Encyclopedia. M., 1980. T. 1. S. 220 - 226.

Mythopoetics is understood not only as a whole complex of concepts ("mythologeme", "archetype", "poetic cosmos") or a system of myths, but also a special type of thinking (myth-thinking), and ritual. Cosmogony and eschatology are the main motifs of mythological consciousness, and its dramaturgy is based on the struggle between Chaos and Cosmos. Mythic thinking preserves the most ancient forms of perception of the world in their syncretism, identifies the micro- and macrocosm, carries the idea of a cyclic rebirth. The leading property of this model of the world is all-sacrality. Mythologemes in the system of mythopoetics perform the function of signs-substitutes for integral situations and plots, and it is already possible to reconstruct the poetic cosmos of the author using several of them, since they are organically interconnected and complementary. “The main way to describe the semantics of the mythopoetic model of the world is the system of mythologemes and binary oppositions, covering the structure of space (earth-sky, top-bottom, etc.), time (day-night), social and cultural opposition (life-death, friend or foe). In art, myth-thinking affects, first of all, the presence of natural signs and elements (fire, water, air), in the form of images of birth and death, which, in artists with a bright mythopoetic beginning, grow to the level of mythologems.

Chapter 2. Relationship between myth and mythopoetics

Myth is a form of a holistic mass experience and interpretation of reality with the help of sensually visual images, which are considered independent phenomena of reality. Mythological consciousness is distinguished by syncretism, the perception of pictures born of a person's creative imagination as "irrefutable facts of being." Losev A. Philosophy of the name. M., 1927. S. 170. For myth there is no boundary between the natural and the supernatural, the objective and the subjective; cause-and-effect relationships are replaced by relationships by analogy and bizarre associations. The world of myth is harmonious, strictly ordered and not subject to the logic of practical experience. Philosophical Dictionary. M., 1999. S. 157.

Historically, a myth arises as an attempt to build a holistic picture of the universe at the intuitive level of perception, capable of generalizing empirical experience and supplementing (with the help of speculative speculations) its limitations. Thus, a myth (from the Greek mytos - a legend) is a legend that appears in preliterate societies about the first ancestors, gods, spirits and heroes. The mythological complex, which takes syncretic visual-verbal forms in rituals, acts as a specific way of systematizing knowledge about the surrounding world.

Myth is an ancient folk tale about gods and heroes, the limit of time compression and generalization, when time ceases to be time: myth lies outside of time. A look from inside the myth resembles a review of a four-dimensional panorama from the top of an infinitely high tower, when space is seen at once at all times, lived by him, as a kind of “collective unconscious” Semenov AI Mythopoetic space in the literature of the twentieth century // http://esgaroth. narod.ru/articles/mifop.htm of the people.

However, the myth-making of the poet is conscious. This is the main opposition between mythopoetics and spontaneous myth-making.

In the concept of Lotman and Mints, mythologism turns out to be a phenomenon of the second order, based on conscious a game of images-mythologems, where the logic of the emergence of a myth is the opposite of that by which the primary myth was created (myth - symbol - system of mythologems - a new myth). Thus, non-mythological thinking creates a myth due to the endless deployment of the meanings of a symbol.

A. Losev noted: "We must be aware that every myth is a symbol, but not every symbol is a myth." Losev A. Philosophy of the name. M., 1927. S. 174. He gave several concise definitions of myth:

Myth is not an ideal concept, and neither is it an idea or a concept. It is life itself.

Myth is neither a scheme nor an allegory, but a symbol.

Myth is always a word.

The myth is in words this wonderful personal story. There. S. 176.

“The essence of the myth,” wrote K. Levi-Strauss, “is not the style, not the form of narration, not the syntax, but the story told in it. Myth is a language, but this language works at the highest level, at which meaning manages, so to speak, to separate itself from the linguistic basis on which it has developed. Levi-Strauss K. Structural Anthropology. M., 1995. S. 30.

Despite the different interpretations of the myth, all researchers are unanimous that the metaphorical and symbolic nature of mythological logic is expressed in semantizable and ideological oppositions, which are variants of the fundamental one: life/death, etc.

Chapter 3. The concept of archetype and mythology

The concept of "mythologeme" was one of the first to be introduced into scientific use by J. Fraser. E. Cassirer was the first to speak about symbolization as a property of myth-thinking. The theory of archetypes was developed by K. Jung, and K. Levi-Strauss wrote about the problem of myth as a metalanguage. In Russia, research is concentrated mainly in the field of mythopoetics, the identification of mythological structures in folklore or purely poetic texts.

In particular, we can name the works of V. Propp, O. Freudenberg, A. Losev and others. "Sign. Symbol. Myth" (1975). In recent decades, J. Golosovker, V. Ivanov, V. Toporov, Yu. Lotman, B. Uspensky, E. Meletinsky, S. Tokarev, N. Tolstoy, D. Nizamiddinov, S. Telegin, V. Agenosov, A. Minakova, I. Smirnov and others. These works created a solid scientific basis for the study of the symbolic and mythological nature of the artistic word.

Mythologeme and archetype are deeply interconnected concepts. Among researchers, there are different points of view on their relationship.

On the one hand, the concept of "mythologeme" is included in the general concept of "archetype". Archetype is a term first introduced by the Swiss psychoanalyst and mythologist C. Jung. Archetypes, according to Jung, are the original mythological images that come to life and gain meaning when a person tries to tune in to the wave that connects the images with his personality. "He who speaks in archetypes speaks as if with a thousand voices." Jung K. Archetype and symbol // Reader in psychology. M., 2000. S. 124 - 167.

Another point of view Baevsky V.S., Romanova I.V., Samoilova T.A. Russian lyrics of the 19th - 20th centuries in diachrony and synchrony. M., 2003. P. 14. considers the mythologeme as an independent unit of mythological thinking. This is an image that has integrity for a cultured person, containing a stable complex of certain features. The content of the mythologeme is made up of archetypes (prototypes), the divine "arche" of things - the basis and beginning of the world. The phrase mythos (word, speech, tradition) and legei (gather) means "gather together", "speak". The formed concept of "mythologeme" means "narration". It brings together everything that the archaic society knows about the world of their ancestors and what was before them. This is a general idea of the mythologeme, and as such it has entered the literary circulation.

The similarity of the elementary plots from which the myths are built is striking, with a complete discrepancy between the social and cultural conditions of their birth and functioning. A comparative study of the myths of different peoples showed that similar myths exist among different peoples, in different parts of the world, and that there is already a similar range of topics, plots described in myths (questions of the origin of the world, man, cultural goods, social structure, the secrets of birth and death, and others) affect the widest range of fundamental issues of the universe. This suggests that there are unconditional ideas that have acquired historical and cultural details in the myths of different peoples, but in the depths they are constants, mythologems-patterns. They are products of creative imagination, each of which contains life situations endlessly repeated in generations. Matched with the global perfection and expediency of life, they took on an equally eternal, wonderful and complete look. In mythology we meet the first "perceived" form of the archetype - the mythologeme, the narrative. Accordingly, archetypes differ from their first reworked forms. Archetypes do not have a specific mental content, they are filled with life experience. The content of mythologems is the meaning of everything. The “expansion” of this meaning through a symbol (figurative or conceptual) can be endless. But "folding", or turning to the origins, will reveal the same unchanging "arche", initial archetypes, "foundations" of things that are "original", and therefore divine in the full sense of the word, are forms of the divine source of life.

So, in the narrow meaning of "mythologeme" - a detailed image of the archetype, a logically structured archetype. As reworked forms of archetypes, mythologemes - products of imagination and intellectual intuition - express the direct and inseparable connection between image and form. They are mastered by consciousness in a symbolic total context with everything that exists, are included in empirical and cognitive connections and set a certain theme, trend, intention, turning into a narrative.

Conclusion

In the poet's work, archetypes and mythologemes directly weave the flesh of the text, being realized in the system of symbols and other poetic categories. On the basis of primitive archetypal connections, mythologems of the inner space of the text are formed.

These archetypes and mythologems are contained in a certain "general poetic" layer of vocabulary, common to all significant poets, whether we take Griboedov, Pushkin, Lermontov - up to Voznesensky and Vysotsky. It concentrates the main themes of poetry. "Great poetry is the poetry of eternal themes." Baevsky V.S., Romanova I.V., Samoilova T.A. Russian lyrics of the 19th - 20th centuries in diachrony and synchrony. M., 2003. S. 14.

As a rule, the words - carriers of these themes are short: this is how the economy of the language in general, the language of poetry in particular, is manifested. “Often these words represent the main mythologemes and can fall into pairs: neye - day, earth - sky (sun), fire - water, light - shadow, God - man (people), life - death, body - soul, forest - garden; can be combined into mythologems of a higher level: sky, star, sun, earth; in humans are usually distinguished body, chest, heart, blood, arm, leg, eyes. Of human states, preference is given sleep, love, happiness, dream, longing and sadness. belong to the human world house, window, garden, the country Russia and cities Moscow, Rome, Paris, word capital. Creativity is represented by lexemes word, poet, song, singer, Muse, verse. There.

Literature

1. Baevsky V. S., Romanova I. V., Samoilova T. A. Russian lyrics of the 19th - 20th centuries in diachrony and synchrony. M., 2003.

2. Levi-Strauss K. Structural anthropology. M., 1995.

3. Losev A. Philosophy of the name. M., 1927.

4. Lotman Yu. M., Mints Z. G., Meletinsky E. M. Literature and myths // Myths of the peoples of the world: Encyclopedia. M., 1980. T. 1.

5. Semenov A. I. Mythopoetic space in the literature of the twentieth century // http://esgaroth.narod.ru/articles/mifop.htm

6. Philosophical dictionary. M., 1999.

7. Jung K. Archetype and symbol // Reader in psychology. M., 2000. S. 124 - 167.

Examples of mythologems

Notes

Introduction

The concept of the worldview of the heroes of Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse" is based on the inner world of the characters, which is not conditioned by anything and is not connected with anything with the surrounding reality. It obeys its own laws and develops in its own ways.

The relevance of this work lies in the representation through the archetypes of the depths of human consciousness and subconsciousness. The writer tries to reveal to her readers the "genuine" spiritual, eternal.

The novelty of the study lies in the classification of the archetypes of light and darkness in the context of the novel "To the Lighthouse".

The object of this study is the archetypes of light and darkness in Virginia Woolf's novel To the Lighthouse.

The subject of the research is the artistic realization of the archetypal basis of the heroes of the work of Virginia Woolf.

The purpose of the study is to determine the role of archetypes in Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse" and their significance in expressing the author's concept.

Tasks set to achieve the stated goal:

Make an analytical review of the concept of archetype;

Identify the differences between the archetype and mythologeme;

Consider the implementation of the archetypes of light and darkness in the novel "To the Lighthouse";

Make a general conclusion;

The material of the study was the work of V. Wulff "To the Lighthouse".

Research methods - comparative and contrastive analysis of the literary text.

Methodological base. In the process of creating the work, we relied on the works of Carl Jung on the concept of archetypes and on the works of Kerlot H.E.

Work structure. This work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references.

Analytical review of the archetype

The difference between archetype and mythology. The symbol and its relationship with the archetype

Carl Jung is a Swiss psychiatrist who was the founder of analytical psychology, whose task is to interpret archetypal images. Initially, Jung worked with Freud and would have been his follower, but later became one of his most prominent students.

Archetypes are subconscious ideas or memories through which people perceive, experience and react to events in a certain way. Jung identified about 30 archetypes that are associated with mythical or fairy-tale images.

There are some criteria for defining an archetype. Some of them are listed below.

The archetype must manifest itself in myths, folklore, etc.;

The archetype, being a structure of the collective unconscious, must manifest itself in all peoples;

The archetype must be perceived subconsciously, and not as a result of learning;

The archetype has positive and negative aspects. A one-sided image (for example, having only a light or only a dark side) cannot be an archetype;

The archetypes are as much feeling as thought;

Archetypes have their own initiative, they contain a certain way of responding. In a situation favorable for its manifestation, the archetype is able to generate thoughts and impulses, thus intervening in it, possibly distorting the conscious intentions of a person;

The archetype is an autonomous, independent, active part of the psyche;

The archetype is personified by certain instinctive data about the dark, primitive soul - the real, but invisible roots of consciousness.

The number of archetypes can be unlimited. From this we can conclude: indeed, the characters of different works are based on pronounced (less often hidden, not manifested) archetypes, which brings all the characters together. Was no exception and the work of V. Wulf "To the Lighthouse". In the second chapter, we created our own classification of characters based on archetypes.

Recently, in connection with the interest in myth, many works have appeared devoted to the problem of distinguishing between the concepts of "archetype", "mythologeme" and related synonymous concepts.

The relevance of this problem is determined by the process of myth-making in art, the penetration of mythological plots, motifs, themes, heroes into works of art, and when talking about mythologization, we also mean archetypization.

One way or another, interest in these concepts is also associated with the search for certain constant values, unchanging structures, psychological prototypes in various fields of knowledge: psychology, linguistics, anthropology, folklore, philosophy. These constants contribute to the categorization and ordering of the infinite number of abstractions derived from reality.

Based on the etymology of this word (lat. archetypon “original type”), the main feature of an archetype is the degree of abstraction of the situation, which makes it a model, a model of the psyche. According to C. Jung, archetypes are dynamic, mobile mental formations, which are primary schemes, original innate structures that a priori form the activity of the imagination. Archetypes are forms of existence of the collective unconscious, the result of a long biological evolution. And the collective unconscious is a channel through which matrices of ancient knowledge are transmitted.

Archetypes emerge in consciousness everywhere and always, are found everywhere and at all times in myths and religions, dreams, works of literature and art.

But mythology was the first step in the processing and adaptation of archetypal images. As K. Jung writes, “... myths are primarily mental phenomena that express the deep essence of the soul. The savage is not inclined to an objective explanation of the most obvious things. On the contrary, ... in his soul there is an irresistible desire to adapt all external experience to spiritual events. It is not enough for a savage simply to see the rising and setting of the sun; these observations of the external world must at the same time be psychic events, i.e. the metamorphoses of the Sun must represent the fate of God or a hero who lives, in fact, in the human soul itself. All mythologized natural processes ... are not so much an allegory of the objective phenomena themselves, but rather symbolic expressions of the inner and unconscious drama of the soul. It is captured by human consciousness through projections, i.e., being reflected in the mirror of natural events ... the soul contains all those images from which myths originate.

It is also important that universal prototypes or archetypes are found in cultures that are not in contact with each other. These, according to Jung, are such personified images as “mother”, “shadow”, “wise old man”, “demon”, “anima”, “animus”, etc. The material archetypal images associated with the world's elements gave birth to various anthropo- and zoomorphic creatures from myths, legends and fairy tales, which later transformed into hydras, dragons, cyclops, titans, gorynych serpents, kashcheev immortals. They can be found in diverse forms and forms in myths and beliefs, in cult, in dreams, in works of literature and art.

Archetypes, according to Jung, play the role of a kind of regulative principle of the structural scheme, forming the channel along which image-creating activity is directed. His theory makes it possible to understand not the "content" of an artistic message, but the "language" in which it is transmitted, and allows us to explain why a number of motifs in the stories about Orestes and Hamlet so strikingly resemble each other (although we hardly have to talk about conscious borrowing here). ) or why the type of trickster in literature is repeated with such stability from ancient times to contemporary works.

Despite the fact that the concept of K. Jung does not give a clear answer to the question of whether archetypes are structures of primitive knowledge or psychological images, the use of this concept had a huge impact on the development of philosophical, philological, psychological thought and laid the foundations of a new cultural paradigm.

The archetype is deciphered using a metalinguistic code and is a prerequisite for intertextual links. The mythological archetype as a relic of archaic thinking expresses the quintessence of myth. The archetype is socially significant and axiologically colored. The literary archetype is synchronous, and the mythological archetype, due to the multidimensionality and multilevel structure of the myth, is diachronic as a historical narrative about the past, but synchronous as a tool for deciphering and explaining socially significant situations in the present and future.

If the archetype is a constant schematic invariant core, the skeleton of diverse mythological plots and motifs in their ultimate abstraction, then the mythologeme represents specific modifications, different manifestations, modifications of the same essence, archetype.

The mythologeme, unlike the archetype, is ethnospecific. Each ethnic group has its own set of mythologies. A mythologeme cannot be reduced to a specific myth, it can only be reconstructed. So the archetypal image of the world tree can be expressed in the form of the Egyptian sycamore tree of life, the kadamba tree in the center of the universe in Indian mythology, the tree of the world Yggdrasil in Scandinavian mythology. .

Each mythologeme, having a completely independent meaning, is single and specific. However, the totality of specific mythologemes created at different times, in different cultures, often independently of each other, often turns out to be connected by a single theme - the archetypal dominant. For example, the theme of "metamorphosis" reflects the most archaic features of mythological thinking. This theme unites such well-known mythologems as "Narcissus", "Hiakynthus", "Acteon", "Arachne", "Procne", "Daphne", "Miniades"; this also includes temporary transformations (werewolfism) of the ancient Egyptian gods Ra, Horus; metamorphoses are undergone by the dismembered bodies of monsters and first people, from which parts of the universe are created: the body of the monster Tiamat in Akkadian mythology, the bodies of the first people of Ymir and Purusha in Scandinavian and Vedic mythologies.

This allows us to speak of archetypes as the universals of human existence, and mythologeme as the deployment in space of those meanings that are contained in archetypes, while archetypes provide a through unity of human culture and are constant dominants that unite various ethno-specific mythologems. Thus, the archetype and mythologeme can be considered as static and dynamic elements of myth, respectively.

A mythologeme can be represented as a multi-level structured set of elements, each of which denotes one or another aspect of the myth as a single cognitive whole. The mythologeme can be divided into core and peripheral elements. So, in the mythologeme "Persephone" the core is the story of the daughter of Demeter, whom Hades kidnapped and rushed off to the kingdom of the dead, after which she must spend a third of the year in the underworld, and two thirds with her mother, whose joy will return abundance to the earth. Thus, this expresses the concept of "fertility and decay of the plant world", "life and death". The peripheral structural element is a pomegranate seed, which Hades gave Persephone so that she would not forget the kingdom of death and return to him. (The pomegranate seed is a symbol of fertility, but its owner is the god of death.)

In his article “Approach to the Unconscious. The Meaning of Dreams" Jung reveals the concept of a symbol: "..it is a term, name or image that may be known in everyday life, but has a specific additional meaning to its usual meaning" Unlike a sign or emblem, a symbol does not simply denote an object, but it implies something more, a vast unconscious aspect that has a deep meaning that cannot be fully revealed. Examples of symbols are sea, water, mountain, bird, snake, road.

Every person has an innate ability to produce symbols in their dreams. The unconscious communicates with us in a symbolic language, the same language is used by various religious denominations.

The symbol is embodied in fine arts and architecture. The symbolism of dreams opens up wide possibilities for the treatment of neuroses. Moreover, each symbolic image of a dream must be interpreted through the prism of the patient's personality, taking into account his individual characteristics.

The symbolism of the collective unconscious is a kind of universal language that is understandable to all people, regardless of nationality. It is archaic and expressive in its simplicity and depth at the same time. An example of the embodiment of the symbols of the collective unconscious are folklore works, myths. Of course, it finds its expression in dreams.

The symbol is:

The best expression of the unknowable;

Accumulator and distributor of psychic energy;

A combination of spiritual, instinctive, image and attraction;

Connection of body and soul;

Transformation of natural energy into a cultural and spiritual form.

As Jung writes, "an archetype is an instinctive vector." This is an unconscious content that cannot be accurately determined, but can be observed by its manifestations - myths, fairy tales, archetypal images in a dream. Examples of archetypes: Mother, Father, Kora (maiden), Trickster, Puer, Senex, etc.

During human life, the archetype realizes and manifests itself in various behavioral patterns (models of action, response, feeling).

Archetypes are not static, but act dynamically, have consciousness and their own energy. It is the archetypes that contribute to the formation of myths, religious denominations or philosophical teachings. The capture of the Ego by the archetype can have varying degrees of severity up to obsession and psychosis.

Jungagian analyst and theorist Murray Stein calls archetypes "universal patterns and forces". These are some mental universals that are the same for everyone, regardless of social and cultural differences.

For example, in all cultures, one way or another, the Hero archetype manifests itself, requiring parting with childhood illusions and meeting reality, accepting a life challenge and overcoming circumstances. Archetypes are similar in nature to instincts, but much wider than the latter.

Jung expanded and refined the concept of archetype throughout his life. As he himself said, "the concept of the archetype has given rise to the greatest misunderstanding."

At the very beginning of his scientific career, as a psychiatrist at the Burgholzli, Jung discovered figurative models into which the mental system would fall apart. These images seemed to Jung to be some kind of universals of ways of behaving, experiencing. He called them "primary images".

Studying African culture Eastern peoples, Jung came to the conclusion that the theory of migration does not explain the identity of these images among representatives of different peoples. He called this common part of the psyche the "collective unconscious". The term "archetype" itself was first introduced in 1919. In theory, the archetype was considered as a kind of skeleton, overgrown with a form of ideas, motives, a system of images.

The archetypal model is inherited, and its content and real implementation differ depending on cultural, historical, social aspects.

The main components of Jung's archetypal theory were the following aspects:

Archetype as a genetic hereditary predisposition;

The archetype as a kind of imprint, mental structure, certain lines within which life is lived;

Archetype as a powerful instinct;

The archetype as a natural self-regulatory mechanism that provides compensation in the unconscious areas or undeveloped repressed aspects of the personality. .

Thus, the archetype and mythologeme, being important categories of mythological consciousness, embody the static and dynamic aspects of mythological representations. A mythologeme is various combinations and modifications of a constant core, an archetype. The archetype, being a humanitarian universal, combines multi-temporal and ethno-specific mythologemes into a single cultural and mythological field, thereby ensuring the unity of human culture. The variety of ethno-specific mythologemes, their interaction and combination within the framework of this archetypal meaning creates a multi-level and multi-layered mythological continuum.

Modern English-language dictionaries of mythologems. Archetypes and mythologemes See what "Mythologeme" is in other dictionaries

Bibliographic link

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Similar Documents

Examples of mythologems

Notes

see also

See what "Mythologeme" is in other dictionaries:

Books

Introduction

Analytical review of the archetype

The difference between archetype and mythology. The symbol and its relationship with the archetype