Modern myth for a global world : Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman and mythic bricolage

• Main Author: Yee, Victoria Wei Wen
• Other Authors: Samara Anne Cahill
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Humanities::Literature
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75165
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Mythic narratives have endured even till the twenty-first century, constantly made relevant to appeal to contemporary audiences. The modern myth then, as Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman narrative exemplifies, is no longer a myth only for a specific audience, but for a global audience. It challenges conventional structures of power through mythic bricolage and re-creates a mythic narrative made of narratives from various different sources. This thesis explores the ways in which the respective areas of feminist storytelling, intertextuality and cultural amalgamation have shaped or complicated The Sandman as a modern myth. It addresses the role of myth and stories in the contemporary world, and the way this complex body of myths and stories form a kind of epic bricolage for the modern, global world.