ABSTRACT
The general tendency of thematological studies is to emphasize the craftsmanship of writing by implying that authors consciously select the myths they explore. Thematologists do not imagine that writers are somehow possessed by the myths they recount by virtue of some unique ability to think ‘mythically’ in an age which has aspired since Socratic times to think rationally. The most popular monomyth among literary critics has been the quest-myth, especially since 1951, when Northrop Frye first identified it as the central myth of literature and the source of all literary genres. Although it is salutary to be reminded every now and then that literature has content as well as form, it is not certain that literature is enhanced by the kind of content which attracts myth-critics. Obviously, it is not easy to invent a critical language capable of straddling the ectypal and the archetypal, which is why myth-critics have unwittingly made some delightful contributions to the art of sinking.
