Literary Myths and Their Dramatic Transgression on the Theatrical Stage
Literary Myths and Their Dramatic Transgression on the Theatrical Stage

Summary/Abstract: I must admit that if one proceeds from the definition provided by the Estonian Dictionary of Literary Language, which states that myth is ‘a traditional image of the origin of the world and social phenomena and the supernatural creatures that have caused it” (EKSS 1994), then the classical mythology – stories about Titans, Hercules, Theseus, etc., that I have heard in my life do not, in my understanding, correspond to that definition. That is primarily due to the fact that I do not perceive them to be traditional. Secondly, they are not my imagery. These stories have not reached me as passed on by my ancestors, but as read in books, and I in no way see them as stories of the origin of the world or social phenomena. A clear example of this is the fact that my first contact with classical mythology was not with the stories themselves, but with Edith Hamilton’s book entitled Mythology (Hamilton 1975), which retells those stories. It was not even for the myths themselves, but as a reference book that I read it, eagerly. Incidentally, the distinctive feature of that book is that Hamilton particularly emphasises different means of rendition. For me classical mythology has, even later, always been inseparable from authorship; these are texts that have reached me through Homer, Hesiod and especially Ovid.

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