Abstract
<jats:p>The object of the research in the article is the language means and stylistic devices which enable us to reveal the specificity of the functioning of myth in the artistic space of Margaret Atwood’s novel “The Penelopiad” and reconstruct the author’s dominant meanings, represented through the structure of the myth. In her novel Margaret Atwood follows the general tendency of the postmodern literature towards demythologization and deheroization, using a rich arsenal of artistic means which enable us to discern in the ironic tonality of the narration such topical issues of reality as the woman’s position in society. The effect of demythologization and deheroization is created by the change of tonality from elevated to parodic-ironical, achieved by the wide use of colloquial and low-colloquial words. The main means of representing the dominant meanings of the novel are allusions, artistic similes, metaphors, depersonalization and grammatical forms of the passive voice.</jats:p>