인간의 정신은 다양한 방식으로, 여러 매체들을 통해 스스로를 표현한다. 신화는 언어로 표현된다는 점에서 가장 넓은 의미에서의 문학 작품이라고 할 수 있다. 그러나 역사와 철학 또한 언어로 표현되지만 역사학자나 철학자들이 역사나 철학을 문학과는 다른 것으로 간주하듯이, 신화학자들 역시 신화를 문학과는 다른 것으로 본다. 이는 역사, 철학, 신화, 문학의 영역이 서로 구별되는 뚜렷한 경계를 가지고 있다고 주장하는 것이 아니라, 서로 다른 용어로 지칭될 수밖에 없는 문화 장르들의 성격과 가치의 차이를, 인간의 존재 양태의 다양성을 인정하는 것이다
Verbal culture is under the control of the collective memory since it is more dependent on the ears and memory of the popular rather on writng and written forms, and perishes if someone does not continue to speak of it. Oral literature and mythology carry in them some essential values and realities which collective mind expresses, consciously or unconsciously, of a society. For this reason, problematics and method of analysis in the study of oral literature are not quiet different from those of mythology. The purpose of this paper is to reexamine the nature and value of the myth by reflecting mainly on Dumézil\'s comparative research and Lévi-Strauss\'s structural analysis, with some important utterances argued in the realm of mythology. The concept of trifunctional ideology as a means of analysis for Dumézil and that of the structure of myth for Lévi-Strauss, each of these attests in its own way a universality of human mind. While the former is a common ideology of the indo-european peoples, the latter, the unity of the logic of mental operation. But these two scholars do not content to reveal certain unity of human thingking. Their works don\'t miss demonstrating the regional and cultural specificities which a myth preserves in its depth. This will be affirmed by two examples of their researches presented in this paper. It will accomplish more of its object if this paper also provokes methodological reflcctions to those who studies korean oral literature.
Ⅰ. 머리말 Ⅱ. 뒤메질의 비교신화학 Ⅲ. 레비스트로스의 구조적 연구 Ⅳ. 맺는말
