Shligel'-Mil'kh M.A. Myth Structure as the Principle of Textual Arrangement Using the Example of Hermann Hesse's Novel 'A Child's Soul'

Abstract: The subject of the present research is the myth structure. Modernist writers made an existential return to mythological sources, origins of human culture and precedent texts of Scriptures conveying the words of God (Logos) through human language. Thus, myth is understood as the synthesis of Logos and human language that can be found in Scriptures and Legends. The fact that humans keep returning to myths proves that myths are long lived. In a literary work myth acquires a new look and the myth structure is embeded in the text structure. Being an interpretation method, Hermeneutics views text as an impression of an event and interprets parts as being equal to the whole, thus trying to focus on the integral structure of an event described in a text. Hermeneutic analysis starts with analyzing particular language structures and leads us to understanding spiritual meanings. The main conclusion of the research is the statement that myth is a two-level system with two types of relations, paradigmatic and syntagmatic, between structural elements of a literary text. The myth scheme captures a participant of a mythological event, thus leaving only an illusion of freedom while bending to its will and truth. 

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