The Persephone myth as a reflection of mother-daughter relationship in Louis de Bernierès' novel Captain Corelli's Mandolin

Captain Corelli's Mandolin is among the most famous postmodern novels reconstructing some of the mythemes of the Persephone myth, such as the heroine's descent into the underworld and the heroine's dominance by intelligence. At the centre of this study lies the representation of the characters Pelagia and Drosoula as Persephone and Demeter figure. While the author presents the characters of his novel, he deconstructs the structure of Persephone myth, like the heroine's assertion of intelligence, sovereignty and victory in each attempt and revives the mythemes once more. The aim of this study is to draw attention to Carl Jung's one of most famous concepts: archetype. Another aim is to retell and discuss the Persephone myth in relation to de Bernierès' work. In this respect, one of the significant intentions is to take Demeter and Drosoula as mother archetypes and analyse in relation to myth and novel and discuss the heroine's monomythic journey.