Myths of Origins. Literary and cultural Patterns

The essays provided the occasion for discussing a number of issues connected with myths of origins from Antiquity to the present from an interdisciplinary perspective. Why should a book be devoted to the study of myths of origins? Apart from the fascination these myths have always held for the global imagination, the answer to this question is not an easy one. The subject, in fact, has been explored from a variety of inspiring and fresh perspectives. However, very little research has been carried out on myths of origins as patterns of literary creation. As one of the main threads that run through the essays collected here, this line of research justifies the present volume. In this book this thread is often woven with others, such as, for example, authorship and creation, ethical and aesthetic issues, the relationship between the human and the divine, transmediality, linguistics and folklore. The present book gives insights into the universality of myths of origins. Its aim is to suggest approaches and provide contexts, by means of which the reader may grasp the diverse possible ways that the discourse on origins offers to understand the present.