The Mythical Underworlds of Francis Stevens and Daphne du Maurier

Autor

  • Mercedes Aguirre Universidad Complutense Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-0319.24.12

Słowa kluczowe:

mit, podziemia, science fiction, Francis Stevens, Daphne du Maurier

Abstrakt

This article analyses two stories by women writers (The Heads of Cerberus by Francis Stevens (1952) and The Breakthrough by Daphne du Maurier (1964)), which could both be considered as belonging to the genre of science fiction. These stories do not follow the ‘canonical’ or more popular type of underworld narrative, especially the idea of the katabasis or descent to the underworld and the encounter with the dead, a motif which has often been present in Western culture since classical antiquity and has generated numerous narratives. Rather, they evoke the classical myth of the underworld through the use of certain names (such as Charon and Cerberus) as well as exploring other concepts which coincide with ancient Greek accounts of the topography and inhabitants of the world of the dead, the realm ruled over by Hades.

Biogram autora

Mercedes Aguirre - Universidad Complutense Madrid

Dr Mercedes Aguirre – Doctor in Classical Philology (Universidad Complutense, Madrid). Honorary Research Fellow, University of Bristol. Profesor Honorífico, Universidad Complutense, Madrid. For many years she lectured on Greek Philology at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. She has published on Greek literature, mythology, iconography, and the reception of Greek mythology in the contemporary world. Among her scholarly articles are those on: Scylla, the Gorgons, ghosts, female characters in the Odyssey and studies of particular myths and their reception in modern and contemporary art. With Richard Buxton she has co-authored Cyclops: The Myth and its Cultural History (Oxford University Press, 2020). She is also the author of several books of fiction, some of them inspired by Greek mythology.

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Pobrania

Opublikowane

2021-12-28

Jak cytować

Aguirre, M. (2021). The Mythical Underworlds of Francis Stevens and Daphne du Maurier. Collectanea Philologica, (24), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-0319.24.12

Numer

Nr 24 (2021): Ad fontes. Tradycja antyczna i jej recepcja

Dział

Articles

Licencja

Creative Commons License

Utwór dostępny jest na licencji Creative Commons Uznanie autorstwa – Użycie niekomercyjne – Bez utworów zależnych 4.0 Międzynarodowe.

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