Myth as Knowledge: The Problem of Myth in Modernity
Myth as Knowledge: The Problem of Myth in Modernity

Summary/Abstract: The general attitude towards myths during the two centuries of European Modernity has been an ambiguous one. The Enlightenment had proposed a rational criticism of myths, but at the turn of the 18th century, the Romantics maintained the necessity of myths, and since then the two lines have concurred in our culture (cf. e.g., Frank 1989: 93–102). In this article I shall ask how this ambiguous attitude towards myths makes its appearance in modern literature. I will ask in particular, firstly, what the modern myths are like and, secondly, in what ways myths are used in contemporary literature. As a background to this, the position of myths in our literary and cultural tradition more generally shall be sketched.

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