Hypertextuality and The Reconstruction of Mythological Characters of Orpheus and Eurydice in Amélie Nothomb's Mercure

One of the postmodern features of Amelie Nothomb's novels is the use of myths, most notably the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in Mercure. Nothomb draws inspiration from the myth, makes major changes to it and rewrites it with her feminist perspective. Contrary to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in Mercure, woman has priority over man and has the last word. In this research, by using analytical-comparative method, we describe these changes and the techniques used and show that the communication system that connects the novel to the myth is hypertextuality. We also try to explain in detail the main mythemes that make up the image of Eurydice, the duality of female characters, the duality of the structure of the novel, as well as the reversal of the roles. The characters of Adele and Azel take different paths and present two different images of Eurydice. In fact, these changes are due to the independence and ambiguity of the novel's female character through the process of duality in the image of Eurydice, and cause the author to present a new version of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which woman is superior to man.