Mythological Criticism - Theory and Paths

Mythology has become a phenomenon in modern world literature in light of the scientific, technological, and literary revolutions of the last century, and the intrusion of what Lévi-Strauss called "primitive thought" into the thinking of civilized man. Man, especially the "primitive," realized that he had always thought well. One of the most prominent proponents of the mythological approach is the Canadian critic Northrop Frye, whose book Anatomy of Criticism (1957) is considered one of the most ambitious and bold attempts to create a new classification of literature based on mythological principles. It addresses the symbolism of the Bible and, to a lesser extent, classical myths, treating them as foundations for literary archetypes. Fry starts from the theory of (archetypes) or (higher patterns), and it follows that the critic studies the poem as a part of poetry, and poetry as a part of man''s imitation of nature, which we call (civilization), and civilization is not merely an imitation of nature, but rather a process of formulating a basic form of nature.