Marketing Myths

Choosing a national hero is a delicate endeavor, as heroes define the nation they represent, providing the means to decipher the imaginary of a given culture. Arthur Pendragon and Don Quijote de la Mancha have been marketed as representatives of the British and the Spanish people respectively. A study of their path towards heroedom sheds light on issues of intellectual imperialism, internal and external marketing and how we, humans beings, choose literary symbols to represent us. Whereas the British people have managed to capture the imagination of other cultures and market their myths successfully, Spain has lagged behind. The purpose of this study is to determine why Arthur has triumphed as a national symbol and has been marketed much more successfully than Don Quijote.

Dr. María Odette Canivell Arzú is Associate Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies at James Madison University. Her areas of research include Comparative Studies, Latin American and World Literature. She has also published the novels, María Isabel (1995), La Historia de Hans Zimmermman (2000) and Inocencia Perdida (forthcoming 2012).