The Myth of the Birth of the Hero

Description

Originally published in German in 1909, Otto Rank's The Myth of the Birth of the Hero offered psychoanalytical interpretations of mythological stories as a means of understanding the human psyche. Like his mentor Freud, Rank compared the myths of such figures as Oedipus, Moses, and Sargon with common dreams, seeing in both a symbolic fulfillment of repressed desire. Thirteen years later, Rank substantially revised this seminal work, incorporating new discoveries in psychoanalysis, mythology, and ethnology, doubling the size of the book. This expanded second edition has never before been available in English. For the second edition, Rank added anthropological considerations of primitive and civilized peoples to those of mythology; extensive discussions of birth dreams, flood legends, and rescue fantasies; and new mythological examples -- among them Dionysus, Kullervo (a precursor of Hamlet), Trakhan, and Tristan -- as well as fuller treatments of Sargon and Moses. Eloquently translated by Gregory C. Richter and E. James Lieberman, this volume also includes an introductory essay by Robert A. Segal and Rank's 1914 essay, "The Play in Hamlet."

First Sentence

Nearly all prominent civilized nations, including Babylonians and Egyptians, Hebrews and Indians, Persians, Greeks and Romans, as well as the Germanic peoples and others, have left us literatures in which, early on, they glorify national heroes-mythical princes and kings, and founders of religions, dynasties, empires, and cities-in many poetic tales and legends.

Subjects

Genres

• Non-fiction

Other Editions

• The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of MythHardcoverJohns Hopkins University Press2004-09-01
• The myth of the birth of the heroThe Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company1914-01-01
• The myth of the birth of the heroThe Journal of nervous and mental disease publishing company1914-01-01
• The myth of the birth of the heroR. Brunner1952-01-01
• The myth of the birth of the heroR. Brunner1957-01-01
• The myth of the birth of the heroVintage Books1959-01-01