RELIGIOUS MYTH CRITICISM IN MYTHOPOEIC FANTASY LITERATURE: TERRY PRATCHETT’ SMALL GODS (1992)

Year 2025, Issue: 71, 427 - 445, 03.11.2025

Tuğçe Soygül

https://doi.org/10.30794/pausbed.1711726

Abstract

Fantasy literature, particularly in its mythopoeic mode, is a modern literary form rooted in ancient myth-making, reconfiguring traditional narratives to engage with contemporary concerns. Rather than reinforcing myth’s original function in pre-modern societies, this narrative mode transforms established mythic structures into symbolic frameworks for critique. This study, therefore, analyses Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods (1992) as a representative work of mythopoeic fantasy, drawing on Mircea Eliade’s theories of religious myth criticism to examine how the novel deconstructs religious dogma and exposes mechanisms, sustaining belief through revisionist myth-making. Building on Eliade’s conception of myth as a sacred framework, the analysis explores how Pratchett reimagines sacred geography, divine authority, and the institutionalisation of myth and religion as human constructs shaped by belief rather than expressions of transcendent truth. The novel thus subverts the relationship between myth and religion within the Discworld universe, offering a critical lens on the socio-political function of religious systems.

Keywords

Mythopoeic fantasy , Terry Pratchett , Small Gods , religious myth criticism , Mircea Eliade , Discworld Universe

MİTOPOEİK FANTASTİK EDEBİYATTA DİNSEL MİT ELEŞTİRİSİ: TERRY PRATCHETT’IN KÜÇÜK TANRILAR (1992) ROMANI

Abstract

Fantastik edebiyat, özellikle mitopoeik türüyle, antik mit yaratımına dayanan modern bir anlatı biçimidir ve geleneksel anlatıları çağdaş sorunlarla etkileşime girecek şekilde yeniden kurgular. Mitin ilkel toplumlarda üstlendiği özgün işlevi yeniden üretmek yerine, bu anlatı tarzı yerleşik mitsel yapıları eleştirel ve simgesel çerçeveler halinde dönüştürür. Bu çalışma, Terry Pratchett’ın Küçük Tanrılar (1992) adlı romanını mitopoeik fantastik edebiyatın öne çıkan bir örneği olarak incelemekte ve eserin dinsel dogmayı nasıl sorguladığını, inancı sürdüren yapıları nasıl gözler önüne serdiğini Mircea Eliade’ın dinsel mit eleştirisine dayanan kuramsal yaklaşımı çerçevesinde ele almaktadır. Eliade’ın miti kutsal olan ile dünyevi olan arasındaki ilişkiyi kuran bir yapı olarak yorumlamasına dayanan analiz, Pratchett’ın kutsal coğrafyayı, ilahi otoriteyi ve mit ile dinin kurumsallaşmasını aşkın hakikatlerden ziyade inanca dayalı insan yapıları olarak nasıl yeniden tasarladığını ortaya koyar. Roman böylece Diskdünya evreninde mit ile din arasındaki ilişkiyi ters yüz eder ve dinsel yapıların toplumsal ve politik işlevlerine eleştirel bir perspektif sunar.

Keywords

Mitopoeik fantazi , Terry Pratchett , Küçük Tanrılar , dinsel mit eleştirisi , Mircea Eliade , Discworld Evreni

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