His Analysis of Comic Doublets
The traditions of the mythological narration, dealt with the figures of the ancestors-heroes civilizers, and their comic-demoniac doublets. Bakhtin summarized Meletinsky's analysis in his work on Rabelais:
This double aspect of the world and of human life existed even at the earliest stages of cultural development, in the folklore of primitive peoples. Coupled with the cults which were serious in tone and organization were other, comic cults which laughed and scoffed at the deity ("ritual laughter"); coupled with serious myths were comic and abusive ones; coupled with heroes were their parodies and doublets. These comic rituals and myths have attracted the attention of folklorists.
Meletinsky also cites Frejdenberg's analysis of the comic alter egos of the heroes.
In a class-based society, ritual laughter in popular culture creates an anti-clerical world of feasts, playful parody, and carnivals.
Hermes is a deified trickster, and Ulysses, the main character of the Odyssey, has a matrilinear discent from Hermes. In the Legendary Troy the mythological element also includes comic moments.
Read more about this topic: Yeleazar Meletinsky
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