The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of Myth

Front Cover
JHU 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

Contents

Introductory Essay
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
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2015)

Otto Rank (1884–1939), one of the most important figures in psychoanalysis, was the author of The Incest Theme in Literature and Legend: Fundamentals of a Psychology of Literary Creation and Psychology and the Soul: A Study of the Origin, Conceptual Evolution, and Nature of the Soul. Gregory C. Richter, PhD, is a professor of German and linguistics at Truman State University. E. James Lieberman, MD, is professor emeritus of clinical psychiatry and behavioral sciences at George Washington University. Robert A. Segal, PhD, is the Sixth Century Chair in Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen.

Bibliographic information