Lured by the Mythic: Pursuit of the Primordial in Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King and Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano

This thesis explores one specific way in which mythology is used in Modernist literature--especially focusing on two modern novels, Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano and Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King. Drawing on studies by French anthropologist Lucien Lévy-Bruhl and on the myth-oriented philosophical texts of Ernst Cassirer, I investigate, in depth, mythological frameworks that exhibit distinctly "premodern" characteristics--involving self-immersion in myth and, most importantly, participation in the mythic. In the process, it becomes clear that such mythological elements have lost potency in the twentieth century, whose "modern" attitude toward myth I take from semiologist Roland Barthes' book Mythologies. Having established this distinction, I then analyze Under the Volcano and Henderson the Rain King as novels which relentlessly address the insufficiency of modern myths, proposing instead a "return" to (that is, a meaningful communication with) premodern mythic ubiquity--a venture that aids each novel's protagonist in his quest for authentic selfhood.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Leonard, James Wharton

• Bellow

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/33478

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/33478