廣義神話論에서 廣義神話學으로

This paper mainly explores the extension process to “the broad definition of myth” by Yuan Ke who is the most renowned scholar of Chinese mythology in the 20th century. To do this, I mainly focused on three remarkable works by Yuan Ke, which represents the changes in the concept of ‘myth’: The Ancient Chinese Myths (Zhongguo gudai shenhua), The Chinese Myths and Legends (Zhongguo shenhua chuanshuo), and The History of Chinese Myths (Zhongguo shenhuashi). While the change between the first two shows the extension from ‘Anceint myth’ to ‘Myth and Legends’, the change between the latter two shows the diachronic extension by challenging the existing classification of mythology. Today, such scholarly effort is carried on by reestablishing the presence of Chinese myths and, by doing so, explores the origin of Chinese civilization. The Myth and History Series (Shenhua lishi congshu) of which the compilation is overseen by Ye Shuxian, the current chairman of the Society of Chinese Mythology, aims to proceed from ‘Chinese Myths’ to ‘Mythical China’. Even so, the ‘lack of Chinese myths’ that early scholars of Chinese mythology were conscious of seems to persist. By examining this project and comparing it with the broad definition of mythology, this paper seeks to uncover this aspect of mythology as a study established by the West, and to reveal that China, with its ideology and consciousness of the great power, was constantly challenged to reinterpret the concept of ‘myth’ in the face of the absence of myth in written literature.