Myth heritage and cultural gene
August 05, 2019 09:24 Source: "China Social Sciences", August 5, 2019, Issue 1749, Issue 1749

More than half a century ago,Mythologist Yuan Ke mentioned in writing "Ancient Chinese Myths": "Several ancient civilizations in the world: China、India、Greece、Egypt,In ancient times, it had rich myths,The myths of Greece and India are preserved quite completely,Only Chinese myths ... Only some sporadic fragments are left,East One Place West One Place scattered in the works of the ancients,No systematic order,Can't be comparable to the myths of Greek nations,Is a very regrettable。"Yuan Ke regrets the scattered of the myths of China (mainly Han)。and some scholars think,Even these scattered myths,Also because of the relationship between classics and writing eras, it may not be fully credible。That's for this,Chinese mythology is indeed far from ancient Greek mythology compared with the systemic spectrum and epic narrative.。But this kind of Chinese and foreign myths are more limited,The inheritance of Chinese and foreign mythology is closely related to its cultural genes。

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The concept of "Myth" originated from ancient Greek mythos,Originally referring to all kinds of discourse content that is spread through oral communication。"Myth" later said,That is the deity、Faith、System narrative of heroes and ancestors,The collective memory of a specific group is gradually generated in the inheritance evolution。The content of the early "myth" through the heroic epic of later generations、Religious narrative、folk legends、Fairy Tale Story bet365 live casino games and other derivative narrative forms,Integration formed continuous、The cultural memory of the system,This is the rich and complete mythical system that people know。

The great tradition of the ancient Chinese culture as the mainstream,Heavy ethics and light "weird power",Therefore, early myths are basically ignored or solved in the mainstream cultural classics of later generations。But this can not prove that there is no myth in China in the early days,It does not mean that the early myths disappear completely in the memories of this ethnic group。The sons of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods are miscellaneous to "Shan Hai Jing", "Customs", and various aspirations and strange stories in later generations,Behind these messy narratives,Myths have always existed like a grass snake ash line,and intertwined in parallel with mainstream culture,Continuously interpret complex and mysterious cultural memory。

Since the 18th century,Many important mythical systems that affect the mythology of the West,It is also a word fragments that were once scattered in folk customs and strange ballads.。Celtic mythology in German scholar Herd's epic,To the later myth -Nordic or "Aryan" myth compiled by Linguistics,Early myths and memories that have been restructured in the modern knowledge system。And these modern myths and memories have been restructured through research,It has a lively vitality in contemporary mythical literary creation and dissemination、Cultural influence and aesthetic value。Obviously,Myth is not just ancient relics,It has important value for human beings in contemporary and even future。

The problem that follows is,Is the mythical memory bet365 best casino games of entering contemporary life still a historical heritage? In the 20th century, Italian historical philosopher Crozi has a famous saying: "All true history is contemporary history。"The" contemporary history "he said refers、"Live" history。In his opinion,Historical materials and literature editors in the monuments are dead,Only when these things are linked, you can evoke memory,Construction of memory fragments is understandable、When you can feel the process of life,"True History" will only appear。That is to say,The meaningful history of contemporary people is an organization that has been used to human memory、Construction and "activation" product。French sociologist Habwah proposed in the book "On Collective Memory",3216_3237。Leaving the current understanding、Feeling and Follow,Historical heritage is meaningless tablets。Ancient myths only understand the re -understanding of a generation、Feeling and reconstruction can maintain the continuation of its cultural vitality。

 Promoting the inheritance of traditional cultural activity

With the folklore of folklore in the 18th and 19th centuries、The rise of mythology research,Western scholars' understanding of myths exceeds the deeds and complicated story content of the ancient Greek mythology system,Start from words、Vegetable、Teinin and other language phenomena to find myths to find myths。But this is here,There are countless possibilities for the combination of language elements,Therefore, it makes mythological significance very easy to become any game of any group。In view of this,Levy Strauss proposed in "Structural Anthropology"bet365 Play online games ,Myth has a "big constituent unit" different from general language,That is, fixed relationships that will appear repeatedly in different language exchanges。He uses a crystal structure of "Slate", which is a crystal structure of the rock.。According to his analysis of myths,Myth is the discourse presentation of the internal fixed structure of a specific culture,It can also be said to be a gene that shows the inherent structure of the cultural tradition。

Fite from the level of "slate" or gene,Can have a deeper understanding of the complex connotation of mythical expression and inheritance in different cultures。Gene is not a life body,But the basis for the birth of life。The myth as a cultural gene is the same: the magic of ancient gods has disappeared,But the gene of the magic may be left,New life body。For example, Lu Xun's "New Story Editor" written by mythical information,Say in his own words,"Only take a little reason,Random dyeing ... sometimes but the river opens the river ",It seems that it can not be regarded as a myth in the general sense。But under the description of the "Messing River", it contains the ancient myth meaning structure。If in the novel "Bu Tian",Lu Xun carried out the romantic description of Yizhuang Yizhuang Yizhuang in the Creation of the World,At the same time, it is metaphorical to the current affairs。But in this depth of the image of Yizhuang and Harmony,It is precisely the duality of the unique gods and personality of the son -in -law in the myth of Chinese traditional creation: on the one hand, making people、Magnoma appears in the behavior of complementing heaven,It embodies the relationship between man bet365 best casino games and nature; on the other hand, as the marriage media and rulers of human ancestors,This reflects humanity,That is human blood/social relationship。The duality of the son -in -law identity is repeatedly presented in mythical historical materials,It constitutes an unconscious gene for the deep world view of the traditional world of Chinese world in the world.。

Research the myth of the creation in the sense of cultural gene,helps us to clarify the "real" of the legendary "real" and the "real" of historical materials、The relationship between "death" and memory of the body,So as to truly grasp the spiritual connotation of history,A living inheritance of outstanding traditional culture。

  Promoting world cultural exchanges

American scholar Huntington put forward the view of "civilized conflict" at the end of the 1990s,It is considered a representative of the conservatives of the Western Center。He thinks,There is a "fault line" that cannot be failed between different civilizations。But the deep structure that caused the conflict between culture and even civilization was ignored。

early 20th century,German philosopher Spengler mentioned in "The Fall in the West",Deep cultural forms may have complex structures and tension。He borrowed a mineral academic term and called it "pseudo -crystal phenomenon" -the single crystal on the surface may contain different crystal tissues that squeeze mixed students,A variety of cultural factors may squeeze each other、Put it、Conflict,complex structure that will not be fused。"Fake Crystal Theory" denies that different cultures have conflicted with each other since the 19th century、The point of view in the influence bet365 Play online games will inevitably move towards fusion,It is also very different from Huntington's fault line theory。"Fake Crystal Theory" is a recognition of the complexity of the internal structure of the seemingly integrated cultural form,Note that the complex structure of a variety of cultural genes and the impact on the development of cultural and civilization。

Criticism based on Western Center theory,Chinese traditional culture researchers on the basis of overall comparison of Chinese and Western culture,Emphasize the centrality or axis heart of different cultures,Pay attention to the similarities and similarities of Chinese and Western culture、History and mutual influence problems。But this study sometimes ignores the internal complex relationships of different cultural traditions。For example, some researchers believe that the "dragon" in Chinese legend has a completely different myth background and "Dragon" in Western culture、Image characteristics and moral significance,Dragon translation "Dragon"。This thinking ignores the complexity and mixed nature of the cultural gene contained in the myth。Julia Smith, a professor of Oxford University, carefully analyzed the complex sources and evolution of Dragon image in Western culture in "From Chaos to Enlightenment -European Dragon's Natural History",It can be seen that its dragon with China is in the image、Form、Multiple similarity in the elements of meaning。This reveals the complex cultural genes of this mythical image connotation,It means that this mythical image may have a certain impact on multiple civilizations in the early days。

Today's world culture is facing increasingly serious communication crisis,and dedicated to bet365 best casino games exploring cultural genes mixed,and try to re -interpret it myth research,It has certain positive significance for building a community of human destiny。

(Author Unit: School of Literature, Nanjing University)

Editor in charge: Cui Cen
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