Summary
Otto Rank: The myth of the birth of a hero
An attempt at a psychological interpretation of the myth
Through his entire education, Otto Rank seemed to be destined to work on that area of psychoanalysis that Freud was very interested in - the area of myth. Thanks to his extraordinary knowledge of literature and the spiritual history of mankind, Otto Rank was able to pay special attention to myth following Freud's encouragement, so in his study The Myth of the Birth of a Hero he showed in a striking way that myth is a product of fantasy, in the creation of which unconscious mental forces play an important role. With its entire structure, especially the abundance of examples on which Rank's psychoanalytical illumination of the process of the birth of a hero is based, this study is still interesting and stimulating today, especially as a precursor to his capital work The Motif of Incest in Poetry and Sagas.
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