The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A psychological interpretation of mythology

Read now or download (free!)

Choose how to read this book Url Size
Read online (web) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66192.html.images 288 kB
EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66192.epub3.images 366 kB
EPUB (older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66192.epub.images 365 kB
EPUB (no images, older E-readers) https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66192.epub.noimages 256 kB
Kindle https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66192.kf8.images 444 kB
older Kindles https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66192.kindle.images 422 kB
Plain Text UTF-8 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66192.txt.utf-8 245 kB
Download HTML (zip) https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/66192/pg66192-h.zip 347 kB
There may be more files related to this item.

About this eBook

Author Rank, Otto, 1884-1939
Translator Jelliffe, Smith Ely, 1866-1945
Translator Robbins, F.
LoC No. 14012461
Uniform Title Der Mythus von der Geburt des Helden. English
Title The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A psychological interpretation of mythology
Series Title Nervous and mental disease monograph series, no. 18
Note Reading ease score: 54.4 (10th to 12th grade). Somewhat difficult to read.
Credits Turgut Dincer, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Summary "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Interpretation of Mythology" by Dr. Otto Rank is a scientific publication written in the early 20th century. This work explores the common themes found in hero birth myths across various cultures, aiming to interpret them through a psychological lens. Rank delves into the universal similarities and motifs in these myths, suggesting that they reflect deep-seated psychological phenomena shared by humanity. At the start of the text, the author introduces the concept of hero myths, highlighting that they often share fantastical elements, despite originating in different civilizations. He discusses various theories that attempt to explain the widespread presence of these myths, addressing ideas of elementary thoughts, original community influences, and the theory of migration. Following this exposition, Rank begins to outline key examples of hero birth myths, including stories of Sargon, Moses, Karna, Œdipus, and others, showcasing their shared narrative structures and motifs, such as abandonment and miraculous survival, as a foundation for further psychological analysis. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Language English
LoC Class BL: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Religion: General, Miscellaneous and Atheism
Subject Heroes
Subject Psychology, Pathological
Subject Mythology -- Psychological aspects
Category Text
EBook-No. 66192
Release Date
Copyright Status Public domain in the USA.
Downloads 152 downloads in the last 30 days.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!