Religious Myth Criticism in Mythopoeic Fantasy Literature: Terry Pratchett’ Small Gods (1992)

Fantasy literature, particularly in its mythopoeic mode, is a modern literary form rooted in ancient myth-making, reconfiguring traditional narratives to engage with contemporary concerns. Rather than reinforcing myth’s original function in pre-modern societies, this narrative mode transforms established mythic structures into symbolic frameworks for critique. This study, therefore, analyses Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods (1992) as a representative work of mythopoeic fantasy, drawing on Mircea Eliade’s theories of religious myth criticism to examine how the novel deconstructs religious dogma and exposes mechanisms, sustaining belief through revisionist myth-making. Building on Eliade’s conception of myth as a sacred framework, the analysis explores how Pratchett reimagines sacred geography, divine authority, and the institutionalisation of myth and religion as human constructs shaped by belief rather than expressions of transcendent truth. The novel thus subverts the relationship between myth and religion within the Discworld universe, offering a critical lens on the socio-political function of religious systems.