Myth model by R. Wagner and F. Nietzsche in Hugo von Hofmannsthal's opera libretto “Egyptian Helen”

A research on the construction principles and myth patterns in opera librettos by R. Wagner, philosophical and aesthetic writings of F. Nietzsche, and an opera libretto by Hofmannsthal has led to a conclusion on the creation of a new myth model, the main feature of which is a deconstruction of traditional approaches to it. In opera librettos by R. Wagner Germanic, myths were considerably reviewed from the standpoint of romanticism based on ancient mythology and for the first time were characterized by the author’s game-like approach. Nietzsche creates his own symbolic model of the myth based on the subordination of Creator’s ideas to the game of the World’s Will, which unifies, mixes, and combines elements of different mythological systems, depriving the national myth of its roots or any logical explanation. For the first time in Russian literary criticism, Hofmannsthal’s libretto from “Egyptian Helen” is shown to have the main components of Wagner’s and Nietzsche’s myth model: adoption of characters, storylines and certain details from European and Oriental mythology; subordination of the intrigue to the author’s logic and contemporary psychologisation of characters’ behavior. Hofmannsthal’s game-like nature of the myth model enables us to consider the libretto of “Egyptian Helen” in terms of postmodern literary strategies.