User:Erhernandez/sandbox: Difference between revisions

Line 270:

he reached the end of his ordeals and acquired personal salvation. At last,

he is liberated from the constraints of his deadening high-society life, having

personally defeated the representatives of his previous life. In line with American mythology, Rojack goes west to Las Vegas where he redresses balances, after which he continues on to the lawless territories of Mexico. Free at last. However, this character of the heroic quest is the least elaborated in the novel. The reason therefore lies in the fact that the novel is an act of constructing, not a finalized construction.

=====THE MYTHOGENESIS OF MAILER=====

According to Slotkin, mythology is a key for understanding a nation’s identity, since “a mythology is a complex of narratives that dramatizes the world visions and historical sense of a people or culture, reducing centuries of experience

into a constellation of compelling metaphors.” It is important to note that the narrative of a myth is not perpetual, but has to be reactive to the changes in an inherently dynamic society. If a mythological narrative strives to sustain its functionality, the myth must address these alterations in society. At the same time, the response of people living in that particular society to that particular myth is equally essential to the viability of a myth, because “a people unaware of myths is likely to continue living by them, though the world around that people may change and demand changes in their psychology, their world view, their ethics, and their institutions”.{{sfn|Slotkin|1965|p=4-5}}

This triple dynamic between the mythology itself, the myth-maker, and the myth-maker’s audience shapes the precarious task of the literary mythmaker as the seismograph of a society:

On the basis of limited, finite experience, he (the myth-maker) creates a hypothetical vision of a universal, infinite order and imposes that hypothesis on his perception of the phenomena of nature and his own behavior. He tests his vision by acting in accordance with the principles of behavior that seem to be demanded

by reality as he envisions it.{{sfn|Slotkin|1965|p=7}}

In constructing his own myth, the writer is able to ventilate his own idiosyncratic

view on the values of society that is intended to raise certain awareness among the people of a particular society. Not only does artistic mythogenesis tend to make people aware of the existence of a myth, it also prescribes this population with a set of rules to follow if they want to survive

===Citations===

@@ Line 270: / Line 270: @@
 he reached the end of his ordeals and acquired personal salvation. At last,
 {{pg|360|361}}
+he is liberated from the constraints of his deadening high-society life, having
+personally defeated the representatives of his previous life. In line with American mythology, Rojack goes west to Las Vegas where he redresses balances, after which he continues on to the lawless territories of Mexico. Free at last. However, this character of the heroic quest is the least elaborated in the novel. The reason therefore lies in the fact that the novel is an act of constructing, not a finalized construction.
+=====THE MYTHOGENESIS OF MAILER=====
+According to Slotkin, mythology is a key for understanding a nation’s identity, since “a mythology is a complex of narratives that dramatizes the world visions and historical sense of a people or culture, reducing centuries of experience
+into a constellation of compelling metaphors.” It is important to note that the narrative of a myth is not perpetual, but has to be reactive to the changes in an inherently dynamic society. If a mythological narrative strives to sustain its functionality, the myth must address these alterations in society. At the same time, the response of people living in that particular society to that particular myth is equally essential to the viability of a myth, because “a people unaware of myths is likely to continue living by them, though the world around that people may change and demand changes in their psychology, their world view, their ethics, and their institutions”.{{sfn|Slotkin|1965|p=4-5}}
+This triple dynamic between the mythology itself, the myth-maker, and the myth-maker’s audience shapes the precarious task of the literary mythmaker as the seismograph of a society:
+On the basis of limited, finite experience, he (the myth-maker) creates a hypothetical vision of a universal, infinite order and imposes that hypothesis on his perception of the phenomena of nature and his own behavior. He tests his vision by acting in accordance with the principles of behavior that seem to be demanded
+by reality as he envisions it.{{sfn|Slotkin|1965|p=7}}
+In constructing his own myth, the writer is able to ventilate his own idiosyncratic
+view on the values of society that is intended to raise certain awareness among the people of a particular society. Not only does artistic mythogenesis tend to make people aware of the existence of a myth, it also prescribes this population with a set of rules to follow if they want to survive
+{{pg|361|362}}
 ===Citations===