HÉCATOMBEON- A DRAMATIC REWRITING OF THE MYTH OF PROMETHEUS
HÉCATOMBEON- A DRAMATIC REWRITING OF THE MYTH OF PROMETHEUS

Summary/Abstract: The myth of Prometheus it is a fundamental story of our own becoming as progressive modern creatures. The story of the cunning and the rebel Prometheus that gave humans the power to care for themselves, hence becoming this developed creature that he is today, has been told and retold through art and literature for many centuries now. In this paper several rewritings of this myth are discussed, but overall, its main preoccupation is Matei Visniec’s Hécatombeon. An absurd dramatic rewriting of the myth of Prometheus that starts deconstructing the idea of a fundamental myth altogether. Starting with Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound, and moving on to Marry Shelly’s Prometheus Unbound, and several other such writings that will be mentioned in this paper, Hécatombeon has a different angle: an ironic approach to a “grand narrative” that ridicules ideas and characters throughout the play. In Visniec’s rewriting we can see how Genette’s mechanism are at play. By shifting some of the focal points of the story, a technique also named by Genette a trans focalization, the writer makes important changes to the play. Changes that bring the ancient myth of Prometheus to the contemporary age and revitalize it.

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