A Structural-Typological Analysis of Paleo-Asiatic Mythology

The Semiotics of Cultural Texts

“…From this point of view Meletinskij has considered the cycle of paleo-Asiatic raven myths in relation to their variations and permutations and in relation to their function of mediations between binary oppositions (Meletinskij, 1973), as is noted later. Also similar to Levi-Strauss' analysis is Ivanov's treatment of Gogol's Vij (1971; 1973b), who mediates between oppositions such as visible/invisible, which Ivanov compares to the oral art of the most varied cultures, East Slavic (e.g.…”

“…The quintessence of the mythological and ritual dynamics of primitive role reversal (one manifestation of which is Bakhtin's comic double) (Ivanov, 1973;1975:216) is, according to Meletinskij, the widely occurring mythological, syncretic figure, the culture hero and trickster (Meletinskij, 1973 and (an ambiguous figure described by Western anthropologists since Boas, notably Radin, 1956 and others). According to Meletinskij, the essential fact is "the duality of the mythological figure who is at the same time both the serious creator of the organized world order (natural and social) and a jester-rogue constantly bringing chaos into the very organization he created, violating the taboo .…”

Ethnicity, Modernity, and Theory of Culture Texts

“…rites of passage and traditional rituals, has been widely noted (Bakhtin 1965, Meletinskij 1973, Leach 1969, Turner 1964. The catalyst of such ritual dynamics is frequently the culture hero or trickster, usefully described by Meletinskij as a mythological figure who is able to bridge the gap between units of time and space.…”

“…The catalyst of such ritual dynamics is frequently the culture hero or trickster, usefully described by Meletinskij as a mythological figure who is able to bridge the gap between units of time and space. Thus, as the creator and maintainer, as well as the destroyer of world order, the trickster-hero both mediates between opposing cultural categories and, at the same time, flouts social norms (Meletinskij 1973(Meletinskij , 1975. As I shall show subsequently, archaic conceptions of time and space emphasizing discontinuities, exemplified in myth and bridged by the trickster-hero, which are variously combined with nineteenth-century concepts of continuous development and dissolution of form, illuminate many ethnic culture texts which are shaped by such conflicting world views.…”