| This thesis examines whether the monomyth as described by Joseph Campbell as the one basic story common to all cultures is present and functioning in the postmodern era as defined by Jean Francois Lyotard. It first identifies the postmodern characteristics in five novels: Donald Barthelme's The Dead Father, Italo Calvino's if on a winter night a traveler , Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude , Toni Morrison's Beloved, and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. These novels were all written by authors from different cultural backgrounds between 1950 and 1990. This thesis then examines each one for archetypal characteristics and determines whether they function as mythology in this era. The thesis utilizes archetypal and postmodern issues to show that the postmodern era is the womb for the revitalized monomyth in this present, fast changing time. |
