SOURCE: Zilberman, Regina. “Myth and Brazilian Literature.¹” In Literary Anthropology: A New Interdisciplinary Approach to People, Signs and Literature, edited by Fernando Poyatos, pp. 141-59. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1988.

In the following essay, Zilberman examines the use of myth in Brazilian literature, noting that many narratives employing this technique have as a main theme the justification of the way society is organized.

Myth and Brazilian Literary Tradition

Because myth is a mode of expression consolidated by verbal language, and because it is present in all human societies, it commands a position of vital importance in cultural life. It shows a marked preference for the narrative form, and although its history cannot be traced chronologically, we know that it goes back to the first, most primitive societies. Indeed, these societies could not do without it, and they transformed it into a vigorous institution, able to survive independently...