CHRISTIAN LEKON
A POPULIST MONOMYTH: The Hero's Journey and the Cosmogonic Cycle in the Writings of Ignatius Donnelly, 1880s‒1890s
This article applies the concept of the Monomyth as developed by Joseph Campbell to the amateur scientific tracts and phantastic novels written by the Populist politician Ignatius Donnelly (1831‒1901). It shows that Donnelly's work contains two mythological motifs highlighted by Campbell: The Hero's Journey and the Cosmogonic Cycle. For Campbell, these motifs are to be interpreted symbolically and represent one's spiritual development. In contrast, Donnelly employs these motifs in a literal way and relates them to his Populist political agenda. The link between the symbolic and literal use of the Monomyth is provided by Jung's interpretation of modern myth.