Mito, magia, mimesis

Abstract

The topics developed in this essay are: Mythological memory and the subsistence of traditional cultures; colonialism and the destruction of mythological memories; Christian conversion, and the collapse of the American cosmos. The opposition of mythos and logos thorough Western history. Western longing for mythical roots and the mythological founding of political power. A “mythological” critique of Western civilization: Marx, Nietzsche, Freud. It also focuses on the aesthetic, anthropological and philosophical definitions of mimesis. Its thesis is that mimesis cannot be equated to imitation. The analysis offers a sharp critique of the avant-garde definition of mimesis. This essay analyses the relation of mimesis and possession in the history of religions as well as the relationship between mimesis and catharsis and between mimesis and magic. I also focus on the presence of American myths in modern classical Latin- American literature, in particular the work of Mário de Andrade, Juan Rulfo, and João Guimarães Rosa.

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