This bilingual work aims to identify and explain the subversive rewriting of ancient, medieval and modern myths in contemporary novels. The book opens with two theoretical essays on the subject of subversive tendencies and myth reinvention in the contemporary novel. From there, it moves on to the analysis of essential texts. Firstly, classical myths in works by authors such as Andre Gide, Thomas Pynchon, Julio Cortazar, Italo Calvino or Christa Wolf (for instance, Theseus, Oedipus or Medea) are discussed. Then, myths of biblical origin - such as the Flood or the Golem - are revisited in the work of Giorgio Bassani, Julian Barnes and Cynthia Ozick. A further section is concerned with the place of modern myths (Faust, the ghost, Opheliaa) in the fiction of Gunter Grass, Paul Auster, or Clara Janes. The contributors have also delved into the relationship between myth and art - especially in the discourse of contemporary advertising, painting and cinema - and myth's intercultural dimensions: hybridity in the Latin American novels of Augusto Roa Bastos and Carlos Fuentes, and in the Hindu-themed novels of Bharati Mukherjee. This volume emerges from the careful selection of 37 essays out of over 200 which were put forward by outstanding scholars from 25 different countries for the Madrid International Conference on Myth and Subversion (March 2011). Este volumen bilingue identifica y explica la practica subversiva aplicada a los mitos antiguos, medievales y modernos en la novela contemporanea. Abren el libro dos estudios teoricos sobre la tendencia subversiva y la reinvencion de mitos en la actualidad. Prosigue el analisis de diversos textos de primera importancia. En primer lugar se revisan los mitos clasicos en autores como Andre Gide, Thomas Pynchon, Julio Cortazar, Italo Calvino o Christa Wolf (p. ej., Teseo, Edipo, Medea). En segundo lugar, la reescritura de los mitos biblicos segun Giorgio Bassani, Julian Barnes o Cynthia Ozick (p. ej., el diluvio o el Golem). En tercer lugar, mitos modernos en la ficcion de Gunter Grass, Paul Auster o Clara Janes (p. ej., Fausto, el fantasma, Ofelia). El volumen presta igualmente atencion a las relaciones entre mito y arte (su recurrencia en la publicidad, la pintura y el cine contemporaneos) y a la vertiente intercultural de los mitos: el mestizaje en la novela latinoamericana de Augusto Roa Bastos y Carlos Fuentes, o en la de tematica hindu de Bharati Mukherjee. La compilacion resulta de una exquisita seleccion de 37 textos entre los mas de 200 propuestos para el Congreso Internacional Mito y Subversion (Madrid, marzo de 2011) por investigadores de prestigio procedentes de 25 paises.
About the Author: Jose Manuel Losada Goya (www.josemanuellosada.es) studied at the Sorbonne, Harvard, Montreal and Oxford. He is Professor in French and Comparative Literature at Complutense University, Spain. Among his books, the Bibliography of the Myth of Don Juan (1997) has been highly acclaimed. More recently, Mito y mundo contemporaneo (2010) received the 2011 Giovi Citta di Salerno International Award. He is Editor of Amaltea. Journal of Myth Criticism (http: //www.ucm.es/info/amaltea/revista/eng/journal.html) and President of Asteria. International Association of Myth Criticism. Marta Guirao Ochoa studied at University College London and Warwick University. She is currently a lecturer in Translation at CES Felipe II, Complutense University, Spain. She has published essays on translation in TRANS (1996, 1998) and El reverso del tapiz (2008), and on myth criticism in Mito y mundo contemporaneo (2010). Her edited books include Ultimas tendencias en Traduccion e Interpretacion (2011)