Herder i la idea d'una nova mitologia

This paper analyses the two texts, in the original German, where Herder reflects
on the idea of a new mythology: On the New Use of Mythology (1767), and Iduna,
or the Apple of Rejuvenation (1796). I explain how in the first essay the author presents
the main characteristics of what he calls «heuristic use» or «new use» of mythology; and
how in the second he shows that also the study of Nordic myths can provide us with
new elements to create imaginative poetry. Comparing these two texts, we will be able
to assess Herder's contribution to a relevant subject in the history of aesthetics and to
better understand its later development in thinkers of early German Romanticism such
as Höderlin, Friedrich Schlegel and Schelling.