Mythical Characters and Symbols in Yourcenar’s Oriental Tales

Despite her position in france, almost all of marguerite yourcenar’s novel and short story characters are from the orient. admiration for the orient is revealed through the narrative, form and the soul of the texts in oriental tales which she wrote after world war ii. she presents narratives/tales from the myths and legends of cultures ranging from china to greece; the balkans to japan. she utilizes them as tools to communicate the messages to humanity at times by applying them to contemporary circumstances and at others by keeping them in their original form. the message she wishes to communicate to humanity is mostly about the pursuit of human values and perfection. by this token, we are going to analyze the characters’ mythical qualities and their symbols in yourcenar’s oriental tales.