The Relationship of Sacrifice and Initiation in the Myths about the Mead of Poetry

The Relationship of Sacrifice and Initiation in the Myths about the Mead of Poetry

Jan Kozák, PhD, Charles University in Prague

The main subject of the talk is the comparison and analysis of four myths (from Poetic Edda, Snorra Edda and Ynglinga saga) where Odin participates in a process similar to initiation, i.e. he undergoes difficult trial and receives boon that permanently changes his status. The analysis takes into account both structure and motifs of these parallel narratives, which are strikingly dissimilar from each other. The proposed interpretation uses this very difference as a starting point and explores the many oppositions and contrasts among the narratives. The differences form a systematic cluster that can be understood through the prism of the structures of initiation and sacrifice (which are two basic modalities of the communication between this world and the Otherworld).

One of the main aims of the talk is to provide a concrete illustration of a method of interpretation which is a crossover between structuralism and phenomenology and which will be shown to be well suited to the Old Norse mythology (with its many parallel versions of myths and its "there and back again" narrative paradigm).

Jan Kozák works at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Charles University in Prague.
 

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