VOlUME 05 ISSUE 03 March 2026
Priya Priyadarshni
Research Scholar Department of English Banaras Hindu University
DOI : https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i3n11Google Scholar Download Pdf
ABSTRACT
This paper seeks to study and explore the role of myth, archetypes, and reimagining in Averno by Louise Gluck. It also attempts to analyse the role of myth in contemporary literature. Gluck is an American poet, and she won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2020. In Averno (2006), Louise Gluck draws from the ancient myth of Persephone and Demeter to explore deeply modern experiences, such as feelings of disconnection, emotional distance, and the search for identity. She uses myth not in a traditional way, but rather as a flexible structure to reimagine and reflect on personal struggles related to change, loss, and the complexities of being torn between different aspects of the self. The collection reimagines Persephone not simply as a daughter or victim, but as a complex figure caught between two worlds—the dichotomy of life and death, body and soul, autonomy and belonging. Gluck engages with myth and archetype not to reinforce familiar meanings, but to question and reshape them. Her poetry is quiet and spare, yet it carries emotional weight, often expressing things left unsaid. This paper argues that Gluck’s reimagining of myth and archetype positions Averno as a vital contribution to contemporary literature, where ancient narratives are reclaimed as tools for articulating the psychological and existential realities of modern life.
KEYWORDS:Louise Gluck, Averno, Myth, Archetypes, Existential, and Poetry.
REFERENCES
1) Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.
2) Gluck, Louise. Poems: 1962–2020. Penguin Books (Penguin Classics), 2022.
3) American Originality: Essays on Poetry. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017.
4) Marigold and Rose: A Fiction. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022.
5) Proofs and Theories: Essays on Poetry. The Ecco Press, 1994.
6) Jung, C. G. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Translated by R. F. C. Hull, Princeton UP, 1968.
7) Vendler, Helen. “The Return of Persephone.” The New York Review of Books, 12 Oct. 2006.
Cite this Article:Priyadarshni, P. (2026). The Role of Myth, Archetypes, and Reimagining in Averno by Louise Gluck. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCE HUMANITY & MANAGEMENT RESEARCHS, 5(3), 514-518. https://doi.org/10.58806/ijsshmr.2026.v5i3n11