Masters Thesis

The sexual dilemma of the artist-figure : a mythological approach to two novels by John Barth

The image of the protagonist as artist and/or hero constitutes a theme relevant to an understanding of John Barth's fiction. His early novels clearly demonstrate the protagonists' difficulties with both their sexuality and their self-proclaimed "herohood." These two themes are then connected in Barth's later works, Lost in the Funhouse and Chimera. In these mythological novels, Barth creates his own rendition of the Trojan War, the Scheherazade legend, and the Perseus as well as Bellerophon myths (relying heavily on Sir Richard Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights and Robert Graves' Greek Myths). A comparison between the Barthian "heroes" and their mythological archetypes as presented in Joseph Campbells' noteworthy study, The Hero With a Thousand Faces, clearly reveals the author's criteria for success and failure of his artist-protagonists in their heroic plight.

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