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."
- ISBN10 1421418436
- ISBN13 9781421418438
- Publish Date 27 December 2015 (first published 1 December 2004)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
- Edition Expanded and Updated Edition
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 200
- Language English
- URL https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/3380/myth-birth-hero