José Manuel Losada
José Manuel Losada (born 1962 in Zamora) is a professor and literary theorist with a specialization in the fields of myth criticism and comparative literature. Within these fields he has published several books in Spanish, French and English. Academic career. José Manuel Losada holds a PhD from the University of the Sorbonne (1990) and a habilitation as Research Director (HDR) from the University of Nancy II. He has been Assistant Professor at the University of Navarre, Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, Visiting Professor at the University of Montreal and Oxford University (St John's College), and Senior  Fellow at the University of Durham (University College). He has also been Associate Professor at the University of Navarre and has given post-doctoral seminars at the universities of Jerusalem, Montpellier, Münster, Munich (LMU), Valencia and Carthague (Tunisia) He is now a Full Professor at Complutense University of Madrid, where he teaches courses on French literature, comparative literature, and literature and religion. J.M. Losada is the founder and editor of "Amaltea, Journal of Myth Criticism"  (2008 –), a prestigious academic journal with a focus on analyzing the reception of ancient, medieval and modern myths in contemporary arts and literature. He is  also founder and president of "Asteria, International Association for Myth Criticism", a nonprofit cultural association with an aim to promote research on myth in contemporary arts and literature. Furthermore, he is the founder and director of "Acis, a Myth Criticism Research Group", a group which brings together numerous academics and doctoral researchers with an interest in analyzing the contemporary relevance of myth from an interdisciplinary perspective. He is also the principal investigator in several R&D projects related to myth criticism. With the support of the members of these groups, Losada has coordinated many international conferences, outreach activities ("Mythological Walks" programmed  in the Madrid Science Week), and international art competitions on the subject of myth. His academic production includes some twenty books and over two hundred articles published in academic books and journals. Cultural Myth Criticism. Losada defines myth thus: This syncretic, expansive concept of myth allows the critic to embark on innovative analysis and synthesis of mythical narratives and their diverse processes. Myth criticism –a term coined by Gilbert Durand– is the study of myth; Losada's main contribution to literary theory is related to the updating of these studies into what he calls "cultural myth criticism". Cultural myth criticism  places particular emphasis on the sacred supernatural significance of myth. Losada states in numerous texts the differences between this transcendence and the transcendence that operates in other imaginary correlates (fantasy, science-fiction and esotericism). Losada also fully escapes from partial and distorting approaches to myth (manifestation of psychoanalytic complexes or social deformations: Freud, Barthes, etc.). There is myth only when two characters of a work of fiction, one from the sacred supernatural world, and the other from the natural world, establish contact. This interpretation (“the myth as an object”, the “value” in culture and textual interpretation), allows him to avoid  reductive approaches to myth. Indeed, Losada considers that the indiscriminate application of a series of configuring factors of contemporary Western society (social and technical globalization, the “doxa” of democratic and consumerist relativism and the logic of vital and reflexive immanence) can mislead the critics who approach myth. Conscious and fond of today’s world, Losada proposes taking into account these factors as a benchmark and contrast for a truly academic study of myth. Without losing sight of previous approaches, this new myth criticism develops an epistemology that enables to comprehend and explain an imaginary and global reality, aimed at a  greater understanding of the true message of myths for today’s culture. This discipline is the result of the main interpretation premises assumed by J.M. Losada: Consequently with the last point, myth criticism is seen to apply to all forms of cultural expression, though not abandoning the analysis of the symbolic imaginary. This new myth criticism looks at mythical representations in such diverse fields as literature, film and television, drama, sculpture, painting, video games, music, dance, journalism, the Internet and all other media of artistic and cultural expression: Cultural myth criticism has proved to be particularly useful in the analysis  of contemporary myths, the study of which necessarily differs considerably from previous work. Many researchers have followed these methodological principles to approach an innovative analysis and synthesis of mythical narratives.