Abstract

DE LA OSSA, Iván Alexander. From the Poets of Antiquity to Fantastic Literature: A General History of Dragons in the Western World. Lit. teor. hist. crit. [online]. 2020, vol.22, n.1, pp.13-49.  Epub Apr 13, 2020. ISSN 0123-5931.  https://doi.org/10.15446/lthc.v22n1.82291.

The article explores the evolution of the dragon in Western literature. It discusses the most notable works of Greek and Roman poets, medieval hagiographies and poems, and, finally, some of the fantastic literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. It examines and interprets the symbolic elements in each period, including the dragon slayer, in order to identify both commonalities and changes of meaning of these creatures. The article makes it possible to consider stories of dragons as human creations that respond to a historical period and a geographic space. In this sense, dragons are a distinctive feature of Western culture.

Keywords : Christianity; dragons; fantastic literature; dragon slayer; ancient mythology; Western world.

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