ABSTRACT
These characteristics of modem mythification would seem to le gitimate the interpretation of the Modernist aesthetic proposed by So viet literary criticism. Many modem authors in fact seem to be seeking refuge in mythification because of their disillusion with historicism as a theoretical or artistic point of view, which perhaps expresses their fears regarding cataclysmic changes and their skepticism that social progress can change the metaphysical basis of human existence and conscious ness. It is enough to think of the words of Joyce’s preferred protagonist Stephen Dedalus on the “nightmare of history”. Joyce’s images and mythological parallels undoubtedly underline the repetition of irresolv able conflict and the metaphysical cyclicity of social and personal life. Thomas Mann’s mythification and the world view it implies are, how ever, completely different and cannot be entirely linked to a Modernist aesthetics in the strict sense of the word. This is even more true of con temporary Latin American and African writers, for whom mythological traditions are still the bedrock of a national consciousness. Their use of repeated mythological motifs, for example, symbolizes the vitality of national traditions and world view. For these writers, mythification means distancing themselves from the immediate social environment, but the historical dimension in their works runs parallel to the mytho logical in a complementary relationship.
