The Myth in de Martino's Italy

ABSTRACT: Being a preoccupied researcher of the myth and contrasting the theories of Mircea Eliade, Ernesto de Martino elaborated an authentic teaching of the existential crisis by theorizing about the myth. Likewise, he has found solutions to the aforementioned matter, mainly by his own disappearance down in history: the cataclysm of non-presence. Without pretending to be a mythologist, de Martino studies the myth pertaining to the lower classes of Italian culture, respectively those of southern Italy. The matter of myth study concerns de Martino, resulting in him making up his own theories that contrast those of Eliade or even Croce. Preceding him, Giusepe Pitre had made himself known as an illustrious ethnologist due to his remarkable contributions. De Martino and Eliade’s previously established relationships is an intellectual one based upon the discrepancies between their individual theories. Therefore, since de Martino mainly contradicts Eliade’s hypotheses and demonstrations, the two theoreticians are mostly treated as oppositors. In de Martino’s works it is to be noticed a clear evolution of concepts, as he initially dismantled various theories belonging to the myth, theories that he later reinterpreted. Thus, while dealing with myths that are part of the Italian cultural heritage and national identity, de Martino discovers the sacred, but also the persistence of the European ancient culture. KEYWORDS: myth, culture, tradition, identity, the sacre