American Mythologies: New Essays on Contemporary Literature
ISBN: 9781846312540
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Liverpool University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Language & Literature;

In United States culture, myth has played a significant role in representing the dominant ideologies of the nation as it emerged from colonial dependence to self-created superstate. In the period following the Vietnam War, however, such foundation myth has been radically challenged by the emergence of a range of new myths that set out to express AmericaOCOs multicultural ethos. This essay collection questions the legacy of triumphalist mythology and explores the emergence of a more pluralistic, syncretic mythology that is central to the continual re-imagining of American communities. The thirteen essays focus mainly on prose fiction, but also consider recent poetry. Using a variety of critical approaches, they investigate how contemporary American literature uses mythology, for example, to redirect debate over issues of race, ethnicity and gender. Above all, this book opens up ways to redefine how myths influence American writing and re-establishes mythology as an essential critical and theoretical framework for literary interpretation."


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