MYTHOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS OF AMÉLIE NOTHOMB’S NOVELS: CREATION, DESTRUCTION AND RECREATION OF MYTHS

Abstract

As part of a larger study of truth in the Amélie Nothomb’s novels, this text inquires into the presence of myth in these novels. Our analysis rests on Roland Barthes’ statement about the function of myth in order to expose three levels on which it works in the writings of Nothomb: the mythicisation of life experience scenes, the reappearance of mythological figures, as well as one doubly paradoxical process that combines mythicisation and demythologization and enhances the reader’s perception.