Myth And Symbolism in Literature: A Comparative Study 'THE ALCHEMIST' By Paulo Coelho and Iraqi Novel Of. "SHE-WOLF OF LOVE AND BOOKS" By Muhsin El Ramli
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31185/bsj.Vol21.Iss37.1507Keywords:
Al-Ramli, Coelho, Myth, She-Wolf of Love & Books, Symbolism, The AlchemistAbstract
This study will attempt to conduct a comparative analysis of myth and symbolism in The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and the Iraqi Novel. She-Wolf of Love and Books by Muhsin El Ramli. It will also examine the use of mythic structure and symbolic language in the journey of self-discovery of the protagonists in the Western and the Arabs literary traditions. The research is based on two theories: Joseph Campbell's Hero and the Heroic journey (monotheistic myth) and the paradigm theory proposed by Carl Jung. It examines common symbols by comparing the symbols on the premise of symbolic and paradigm analysis. The two novels meet at the same mystic level in which symbolism is a pattern to build up the identity of the protagonist. Combining the Sufi ideas of the past and the Jungian models, both stories are aimed at criticizing material life and reconstructing the self. They also serve to fill in the gap between the context of the narratives of the Al-Ramli and the Coelho literary traditions through the focus of specificity of the myth criticism and stereotypical transformation to assert that narrative fiction is used to recreate the human experience across the boundaries of cultures. Several suggestions were put forward, and the first was the need to expand the field of comparative research to a wider sample of the Iraqi novelists, and to understand how the theme of trauma and national identity can be overcome with the help of symbolism and myths.
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