George Gherjikov, Chief Asst. Prof.

Western modernity owes its global influence as a cultural and political model to the rigid distinctions it makes between nature and cul- ture, as well as between their subdivisions. The creative reworkings of mythological and folkloric motifs that we frequently find in late modern literature and popular culture allow us to identify ways of overcoming these distinctions. Such reworkings show different possibilities for the uniting of the pagan and Christian heritage, of traditional narratives and ideas with the modern scientific worldview, of the exact sciences with other areas of culture, of “art for art’s sake“ with political engagement. The rigid separation of these spheres is a modern construct which has been immensely useful for technological and political progress, but which in the globalized era also reveals itself as psychologically and ecologically harmful.