Myth

Myth is the most ancient form of collective folk consciousness and a narrative genre that, in figurative form, explains the origin of the world, of gods, of people, and of natural phenomena, and establishes the fundamental values of a community. Myth was not perceived by its bearers as invention — it was sacred truth, a model of the world. Ancient mythology (Greek, Roman) became an inexhaustible source of images and plots for all European literature. Mythological thinking and archetypes were deeply studied by scholars (James Frazer, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell). Ukrainian pre-Christian mythology (Perun, Dazhboh, rusalkas, mavkas) echoes in folklore and literature; Lesia Ukrainka's drama-fairy-play The Forest Song rests upon it. Conscious 'myth-making' — the construction of a national myth — is characteristic of the poetry of Taras Shevchenko and of writers who shaped the spiritual image of the nation.