Myth
Among the meanings:
1. Ancient legend; story which seems to be as permanent as the landscape with which it is linked, giving it significance and personality.
2. The narrative underlying a religion; the meeting point between religion and culture.
3. A story which (the speaker insists) is untrue, though widely held to be true.
4. Shared common sense, about behaviour and opinion; a society’s idea of normality.M53
5. A nation’s history.
6. A nation’s popular history.
7. A nation’s history, revised with malicious intent.
But these are fragmented. The condensed meaning of myth is the most telling one. The myth of a place is the narrative that gives it identity.
The story is a mixture of truth and untruth; it is in quantum space: to observe it too closely is to destroy it. The identity that derives from it is real, but fragile.
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