Vision and Desire: Jim Morrison's Mythography Beyond the Death of God.

.
The poetry of Jim Morrison, as opposed to his lyric verse, has been the subject of little critical examination. The aim of this paper is to open up an understanding and interpretation of a mythographic landscape developed by Morrison in his response to existence in a demythologised western culture.

Through the use of the Greek myth of Oedipus in its entirety, as opposed to the two most universally known events of the adult Oedipus' life, discussion here will attempt to demonstrate that Morrison developed a cohesive, holistic vision of the human condition of existence in the world, and presented a path of possibility for transcending its conflict. Indeed, it is proposed here that Morrison draws a clear path to and framework for living beyond the death of God.

For structure, discussion will be framed around not only the Oedipal myth, but also the "Three Metamorphoses" found in Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a transformational trinity which is easily aligned to the story of Oedipus. Critical theory will be drawn from mythology, principally through the work of Joseph Campbell, existentialism, from the work of Soren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre, psychoanalysis, drawing mainly from Sigmund Freud, Julia Kristeva and Jacques Lacan and philosophy, based largely though not exclusively, in Friedrich Nietzsche' s The Will to Power.

It is recognised that a great volume of biography and related commentary regarding Morrison has focus upon aspects and interpretations of his work that are not here under examination, and cite a significant volume of literature which has influenced him. Due to limitations of space within the parameters of this project, it has been impossible to address all works and persons that can be attributed as having influence, and notable omissions include, but are not limited to, the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, the works of William Blake not noted in this paper, The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Road by Jack Kerouac, and The Doors of Perception by Aldous Huxley, which is noted only briefly. Further to this Morrison drew on a vast knowledge of Greek myth, and most often cited is the myth of Dionysus, though it should be kept in mind that many other Greek mythic figure are apparent in his writing.
.
.

                                                                                                                    Ellen Jessica Greenham
.
.
.
.