Reduktivní tanec s vlky : ke knize Monomýtus Jana A. Kozáka

This article is a critical response to the book Monomýtus by Jan A. Kozák. It argues that although Kozák presents his approach to the category of myth as non-reductive, in a certain sense he reduces the narratives he summarizes under the term myth to their their "weird" and "bizarre" motifs, while neglecting the social dimension of the formation and reproduction of these narratives. The article further argues that studying the social circumstances of a narrative’s formation and construction is necessary to understand not only its social function, but also its internal structure, including the character and role of "weird" motifs in the story. In the concluding section, the article addresses certain terminological blurriness of the book, which might be related the author’s non-reductionist ambitions, but limits the analytical potential of Kozák’s contribution, just like does the overly synthetic approach to classical works on the theory of myth.