Uncertainty as the guiding light, or on the devil’s role in popular culture : on the example of the lyrics and the live stage show "Zoo Tv" by the band U2

The text describes two ‘devilish’ characters played by Bono, U2’s lead singer, during the concerts of the Zoo Tv tour - The Fly and Mr MacPhisto. The Fly can be interpreted, in the light of the so-titled song’s lyrics and in the context of the scenic setting in which the character appears, as a reference to Lucipher (as the infernal lord and "the son of Dawn", "the light-carrier") and Beelzebub (the lord of the flies); whereas MacPhisto, by means of his name and attributes, is closely associated with Mephistopheles. Bono’s way of shaping the devilish roles has an intertextual character. The evocations function by means of signs, whose meanings are stabilised and easy to grasp without going into detailed differentiations - which makes them easily recognizable. Those devilish characters are an artistic comment to the condition of the modem culture, which is plunged in the information chaos, deceitful, stupefying, yet at the same time invariably diverting. In this way, the popular culture is given qualities traditionally associated with the devil’s activity. A suggestion arises, that the popular culture is in fact a devilish dominion

Yearbook of Mythological Studies : Jagiellonian University : works of the Inter-faculty Research Group of Mythological Studies

Teksty zamieszczone w pierwszym tomie "Rocznika Mitoznawczego" prezentują szerokie spektrum możliwych metod badania kwestii mitu. Autorami są studenci i doktoranci skupieni wokół Międzywydziałowej Grupy Badań nad Mitem przy Kole Naukowym MISH UJ. Działalność grupy opiera się na przekonaniu, że wybrana przez nią kategoria badawcza stanowi pomost między wieloma dziedzinami współczesnej humanistyki. Za cel stawia sobie wymianę doświadczeń i wiedzy miedzy nimi, pobudzanie do dyskusji, której rezultatem byłaby wspólna definicja badanego fenomenu lub tylko bardziej świadome posługiwanie się narzędziami poszczególnych nauk. "Rocznik Mitoznawczy" pomyślany jest jako publikacja cykliczna, "znacząca etapy" do tego celu. W tomie pierwszym wypowiadają się między innymi filozof, literaturoznawcy komparatystyczni, religioznawcy, antropolodzy i socjolog.The texts published in the first volume of the "Yearbook of Mythological Studies" present a wide spectrum of possible methods of researching myths. The authors are gathered around the Inter-faculty Research Group of Mythological Studies at the Jagiellonian University. The group's activity is based on the conviction that the selected research category is a bridge between many areas of contemporary humanities. The goal is to exchange experiences and knowledge between them, to stimulate discussion, which would result in better understanding of the phenomenon being studied and a more conscious use of the notion in particular sciences. In the first volume, among others, philosophers, comparative literary scholars, religious scholars, anthropologists and sociologists present their research

Yearbook of Mythological Studies : Jagiellonian University : works of the Inter-faculty Research Group of Mythological Studies

Tom drugi "Rocznika Mitoznawczego. Studiów Międzywydziałowej Grupy Badań nad Mitem" tworzą wybrane artykuły uczestników ogólnopolskiej konferencji naukowej "Narrare necesse est: o potrzebie i trwałości mitu w świecie odczarowanym" (WP UJ 2007). Patronami refleksji prowadzonej podczas konferencji byli Odo Marquard, Leszek Kołakowski i Max Weber, myśliciele stawiający pytanie o możliwość oderwania w toku historii opowieści ludzkich od wymiaru sakralnego. Pomysły metodologiczne młodych mitoznawców zostały skonfrontowane pomiędzy przedstawicielami różnych dyscyplin i ośrodków akademickich.Second volume of the "Yearbook of Mythological Studies. Works of the Inter-faculty Research Group for Mythological Studies", consists of selected articles of the participants of the nationwide scientific conference "Narrare necesse est: on the need and permanence of the myth in the disenchanted world" (Jagiellonian University 2007). The patrons of the conference were Odo Marquard, Leszek Kołakowski and Max Weber, thinkers who put a question about the possibility of detaching human stories from the sacred dimension in the course of history. Methodological ideas of young mythologists were confronted between representatives of various disciplines and academic centers