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    En291 Lecture 1 Introduction

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    This document discusses the origins and definitions of mythology. It explains that mythology comes from the Greek words "mythos" meaning story or plot, and "logos" meaning account. While mythos suggests storytelling, logos implies the storyteller had a firsthand account. The document also notes that Aristotle saw mythos as fiction used to produce catharsis or cleansing. This suggests Aristotle viewed mythology as playing a role of emotional release within a culture. Finally, it states that Greek mythology has had a profound influence on Western thought and literature.

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    En291 Lecture 1 Introduction

    Uploaded by

    api-196355369
    73 views7 pages
    This document discusses the origins and definitions of mythology. It explains that mythology comes from the Greek words "mythos" meaning story or plot, and "logos" meaning account. While mythos suggests storytelling, logos implies the storyteller had a firsthand account. The document also notes that Aristotle saw mythos as fiction used to produce catharsis or cleansing. This suggests Aristotle viewed mythology as playing a role of emotional release within a culture. Finally, it states that Greek mythology has had a profound influence on Western thought and literature.

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    en291 lecture 1 introduction

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    This document discusses the origins and definitions of mythology. It explains that mythology comes from the Greek words "mythos" meaning story or plot, and "logos" meaning account. While mythos suggests storytelling, logos implies the storyteller had a firsthand account. The document also notes that Aristotle saw mythos as fiction used to produce catharsis or cleansing. This suggests Aristotle viewed mythology as playing a role of emotional release within a culture. Finally, it states that Greek mythology has had a profound influence on Western thought and literature.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    73 views7 pages

    En291 Lecture 1 Introduction

    Uploaded by

    api-196355369
    This document discusses the origins and definitions of mythology. It explains that mythology comes from the Greek words "mythos" meaning story or plot, and "logos" meaning account. While mythos suggests storytelling, logos implies the storyteller had a firsthand account. The document also notes that Aristotle saw mythos as fiction used to produce catharsis or cleansing. This suggests Aristotle viewed mythology as playing a role of emotional release within a culture. Finally, it states that Greek mythology has had a profound influence on Western thought and literature.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 7

    Mythological Background in

    Literature
    Introduction
    What is mythology?
    In order to understand the meaning
    of mythology we need to look at the
    origin of the word ‘myth.’

    Mythos is a Greek word meaning


    ‘spoken story,’ ‘speech’ or simply ‘the
    plot’
    What is mythology?

    Logos is a Greek word meaning ‘account.’

    Logos means that the story teller takes personal


    responsibility for the ‘account.’ This means that they can
    personally verify the story, as it probably happened to
    them.

    Mythos therefore suggests ‘storytelling’ in comparison to


    logos. This is the basis of the word myth.
    Aristotle’s view
    Aristotle was a famous Greek philosopher,
    and the student of Plato (who himself was
    the student of Socrates).

    Aristotle equated mythos with fiction and


    saw it as a way of producing catharsis
    (another Greek word) which means
    healing/cleansing
    Aristotle’s reasoning

    If Aristotle equated mythos with


    fiction as a way of producing
    catharsis,
    what does this suggest he was
    saying about the role of mythology
    within culture?
    Influence
    Greek Mythology has had a profound
    effect on western thought and literature.

    Can you think of any examples?

    We will be looking at this in more details


    over the coming classes

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