The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of MythJHU Press, 2015 M11 1 - 200 pages First published in German in 1909, Otto Rank's original 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 Sigmund 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. In a new edition published thirteen years after the original, Rank doubled the size of his seminal work, incorporating new discoveries in psychoanalysis, mythology, and ethnology. This expanded and updated edition has been eloquently translated by Gregory C. Richter and E. James Lieberman and includes an introductory essay by Robert A. Segal as well as Otto Rank's 1914 essay "The Play in Hamlet." |
From inside the book
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... father but alternabe the dutiful heir of the father. Heroism can even go back to infancy, with birth and survival the chief feats. The hero can also be female. Conversely, a male hero can even accomplish the female feat of giving birth ...
... father, or his representative. As a rule, he [i.e., the son] is surrendered to the water, in a box. He is then saved by animals, or by lowly people (shepherds), and is suckled by a female animal, or by a humble woman. After he has grown ...
... father. The killing is definitely intentional, and the cause is not revenge but sexual frustration. The father has refused to surrender his wife—the real object of the son's efforts: “[A]s a rule the deepest, generally unconscious root ...
... father, to the trauma of birth, which necessarily centers on the mother. For Rank, the infant's anxiety at birth is the source of all subsequent anxiety. Conflict with the father remains, but because he blocks the son's yearning to ...
... father is simply the reenactment of his defeat of his father at birth: “[T]he scene at the crossroads in which Oedipus meets and slays his father, Laius, can justly be seen as a reenactment of the birth trauma at the oedipal level ...
Contents
vii | |
Translators Introduction | xxxix |
Preface to the First Edition | xlv |
Preface to the Second Edition | xlvii |
1 Introduction | 1 |
2 The Cycle of Myths | 9 |
3 The Interpretation of the Myths | 47 |
Toward an Analysis and Dynamic Understanding of the Work | 93 |
Notes | 105 |
References | 129 |
Index | 143 |
Other editions - View all
The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of Myth Otto Rank Limited preview - 2004 |
The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of Myth Otto Rank Limited preview - 2015 |
The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of Myth Otto Rank Limited preview - 2004 |