ETD

• Eliot
• Frazer
• Freud
• gender
• Homer
• Joyce
• Jung
• Miller
• myth
• Ovid
• queer
• retelling
• Smith
• trauma

The aim of this thesis is to explore and analyse the reinterpretations of classical myth in contemporary Anglo-American literature, in particular in Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and Ali Smith's Girl Meets Boy.
The analysis begins with an overview of the importance of classical myth in Western civilization. Then, it will briefly explore the contribution mythology has given to the development of modern Anthropology and Psychology, which, in turn, have deeply influenced the Modernist movement.
After this first excursus, the analysis will focus on the use of myth in the United States from both a social and a narrative point of view. This exploration will allow us to see how Madeline Miller reinterpreted the story of Achilles and Patroclus by transposing elements of the contemporary world into the classical myth, highlighting issues of gender and sexual identity.
The latter will be further explored in the analysis of Ali Smith's Girl Meets Boy, which deals with the principles of Queer Theory applied to the author's Ovid reinterpretation.
In conclusion, we will briefly see how mythology has influenced the two emerging fields of comics and videogames.