Mythopoeia in popular fiction : a select study of the mythopoeic deities of J.R.R. Tolkien and Amish Tripathi

Abstract

Mythopoeia or mythopoiía in Greek means ‘myth making’, mŷthos meaning ‘myth’ and poieîn meaning ‘make’ (Merriam Webster Dictionary). “Human beings have always been mythmakers” (Armstrong 1). We make myths to situate ourselves in a larger cosmic order. We make myths to reassure ourselves against the fear of infinite regress. We make myths to make meaning of our lives. Both “for society at large and for the individual, this story-generating function seems irreplaceable” (Cupitt 89). Cats, as far as we know, do not ponder about the feline condition, worry about the plight of fellow cats elsewhere, or try to negotiate their position in the animal kingdom. Human beings on the other hand fall easily into despair. From the very beginning we invented stories to place our lives in a larger setting, which hinted an underlying pattern and gave us a sense that, in spite of the depressing and chaotic evidence to the contrary, life had meaning and value. It is this human tendency which forms the foundation of mythopoeia.Although this mythopoeic tendency is inherent and indispensable, ever since the 1950’s, according to Oxford English Dictionary, there has come to be a definite category called mythopoeia in fiction, film and ludology. This category interprets, revises and reproduces extant and extinct mythos and myth, in an attempt at redemption or restoration. But can this category serve the same function as mythos and myth? How is mythopoeia relevant amidst mythos and myth? This dissertation is anenquiry into this contemporary category of mythopoeia in the mythical tradition.