Α Kaleidoscope of Mythical Beasts, Beyond Time and Space: Keys to Understanding Oneself and Culture

Marciniak, K. (Ed.). (2020). Chasing mythical beasts: The reception of ancient monsters in children’s and young adults’ culture. Universitätsverlag Winter.


Abstract

The paper aspires to provide a critical presentation of the content of the Chasing Mythical Beasts: The Reception of Ancient Monsters in Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture collective volume, edited by Katarzyna Marciniak (2020), and an interpretative framing for the recurrent emergence of mythical beasts in literature and other media for children and young people. Famous mythical monsters – the Minotaur, Medusa, Pegasus, centaurs, and sirens – reappear either in their original form or in other versions in a wide range of stories, becoming a vehicle for critical reflections over a variety of subjects, like the encounter with the Other, the coming of age, the female power, totalitarianism, ethical dilemmas, or human relationships, to mention some of them. Monsters’ diffusion in almost all cultural fields highlights their universality, recognisability, popularity, and flexibility to adjust to requirements and priorities of all times and spaces. Their inexhaustible potential remains to be further explored.

Keywords

children’s and young adult culture; classical reception studies; Graeco-Roman mythology; interdisciplinarity; intercultural intersections; Katarzyna Marciniak; mythical beasts

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Published : 2021-12-31


Moula, E. (2021). Α Kaleidoscope of Mythical Beasts, Beyond Time and Space: Keys to Understanding Oneself and Culture. Dzieciństwo. Literatura I Kultura, 32, 150-165. https://doi.org/10.32798/dlk.769

Evangelia Moula  moula.evangelia@ac.eap.gr
Hellenic Open University  Greece
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9694-4924

Evangelia Moula – PhD, postdoctoral researcher, works in secondary education and teaches at the Hellenic Open University (Greece). Her research interests include children’s literature, digital culture, and critical literacy in education. Contact: moula.evangelia@ac.eap.gr.






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