Artificial mythology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Artificial mythology (compare artificial language) is any invented mythology that, rather than arising out of centuries of oral tradition, are penned over a short period of time by a single author or small group of collaborators. While many literary works carry mythic themes, only a few approach the dense self-referentiality of, for example, J. R. R. Tolkien, William Blake or C.S. Lewis.
As opposed to fantasy worlds or fictional universe aimed at the evocation of detailed worlds with well-ordered histories, geographies, and laws of nature, artificial mythology aims at imitating real-world mythology, either as a reason in itself, or specifically created to add credibility and literary depth to fictional worlds in fantasy or science fiction books, movies and role-playing games.
Artificial mythology can be created entirely by an individual, like the world of Middle-earth, or can be formed as a result of an amalgam of writings, like the Cthulhu Mythos.
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[edit] The place of artificial mythology in society
Works of artificial mythology are often treated as normal works of fantasy or science fiction, but many hardcore fans relate to them as if these worlds were real. They study the languages, histories and religions depicted in the fiction. Joseph Campbell, a famous student of world mythology, spoke of a Nietzschean world which has today outlived much of the mythology of the past. He claimed that new myths must be created, but he believed that present culture is changing too rapidly for society to be completely described by any such mythological framework until a later age. He did, however, use Star Wars as an example of the creation of such fantasy worlds by which civilization will one day describe itself. Without relevant mythology, Campbell claimed, society cannot function.
[edit] Literature
[edit] Antiquity
Perhaps the first attempt to construct mythology out of whole cloth was the book of Pherecydes of Syros, written in Greek Southern Italy in the 6th century BC. Pherecydes transformed the Greek pantheon beyond recognition, with Zas ("he who lives") rather than Zeus as the king of the gods, and Chronos ("time") rather than Kronos as Zas's father. Pherecydes's book was a key turning-point in the Greek movement towards scientific and philosophic thought.
[edit] 19th and 20th centuries
J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth is perhaps the most well-known of contemporary artificial mythology. In his fictional works, Tolkien invented not only a cosmogony, anthropogony and epic cycle, but also a fictive linguistics, geology and geography. His close friend, C.S. Lewis, followed suit with his fantasy world of Narnia, as well as the planets of Perelandra, Malcandra and Thulcandra.
William Blake's "prophetic works" (e.g. Vala, or the Four Zoas) contain a rich panoply of original gods, such as Urizen, Orc, Los, Albion, Rintrah, Ahania and Enitharmon. Blake was an important influence on Aleister Crowley's Thelemic writings, whose dazzling pantheon of invented deities and radically re-cast figures from Egyptian mythology and the Book of Revelation constitute an artificial mythology of their own.
The repetitious themes of Jorge Luis Borges's fictional works (mirrors, labyrinths, tigers, etc.) tantalizingly hint at a deeper underlying mythos and yet stealthily hold back from any definitive canonicity.
The pulp works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert Howard contain imagined worlds vast enough to be universes in themselves, as does the science fiction of Frank Herbert and E.E. "Doc" Smith.
Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, apart from genre, fit the definition; coteries of dedicated fans perform close textual analysis, and real-world letters seeking help continue to be mailed to Holmes's fictional address.
[edit] Collaborative efforts
The Rosicrucian hysteria of the 17th century arose out of a collective effort at "artificial mythology", as multiple anonymous authors wove an innovative hagiography and founding myth of the brotherhood in their tracts.
The Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft was likewise taken up by numerous collaborators and admirers.
[edit] Scholarship
Many students of comparative religion have been accused of weaving their own myths rather than honestly interpreting the ones they purport to study, including Claude Lévi-Strauss, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, Georges Dumézil, Jane Ellen Harrison, James Frazer and Barbara Walker. T.S. Eliot's Waste Land was a deliberate attempt to model a 20th century artificial mythology patterned after the birth-rebirth motif described by Frazer.
[edit] Music
In classical music, Richard Wagner's operas were a deliberate attempt to create a new kind of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), transforming the legends of the Teutonic past into a new, nearly unrecognizable monument to the Romantic project.
In popular music, George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective produced numerous concept albums which tied together in what is referred to as P Funk mythology.
[edit] Other media
George Lucas claims to have been consciously influenced by Joseph Campbell's theories in making his Star Wars movies. Both Star Wars and Star Trek have become a sort of religion for certain fans.
Comic books have been seen as the twentieth century's answer to epic. Perhaps the most ambitious and deliberate effort at artificial mythology in the comic field was Jack Kirby's Fourth World series, with the cosmic struggle between Darkseid's Apokalips and the gods of New Genesis and Mister Miracle and Orion as messiah-figures.
Role-playing games often include artificial mythologies for their players to interact with. Examples include the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dragons or the world of White Wolf's Exalted. Their computer counterparts, computer role-playing games, sometimes have elaborate fictional universes that continue to be explored over many sequels, such as the best selling Final Fantasy X which along with its sequel Final Fantasy X-2 sold 10 million copies and boasts a legion of enthusiasts of its Fictional Universe
Penny Arcade attempted to create an "artificial artificial mythology" in the "The Elemenstor Saga", a fictitious series of books that parodied generic fantasy fiction. They appear as of 2006 to have abandoned the project and moved on to other things.
