Theorists of Myth, Volume 13 The book surveys and evaluates the methods that Freud and the various psychoanalytic schools have employed in their studies of myths. In addition to providing a historical survey, the author argues that modern views of myth as something to be deplored because it is inconsistent with history and science depends on a misunderstanding of the nature of myth. Myth is not a product of unconscious irrationality but is instead a sustained use of metaphor. It expresses ideas in concrete imagery of unconscious inspiration, but the ideas can be rational and profound, as is also the case with poetry and scientific models. As such, there is no validity in condescending to myth-telling cultures, as though their use of myth made them less rational or realistic than Western culture. --- from the publisher Contents: Preface 1. Mythology into Metapsychology 2. Myth as Unconscious Manifestation
--Karl Abraham
--Otto Rank
--The Game Theft Myth 3. Myth and the Basic Dream
--The Cultural Context of Symbolism
--The Ontogenetic Theory of Culture
--The Genitality of Myths
--Concluding Reflections 4. Myth as Defense and Adaptation
--Abram Kardiner
--The Mechanisms of Defense
--Jacob A. Arlow
--The Navajo Coyoteway Ceremony
Conclusion 5. Myth as Metaphor
--Silberer's Anagogical Approach
--Metaphor Theory
--Metaphor Theory and Myths
--The Implicit Content of Myths
--The Subject Matter and Definition of Myth
--Mythic Conceptions and Religious Thought
--Conclusing Reflections 6. Therapeutic Insights in Myth
--The Disemboweler
--The Blind Boy and the Loon
--The Claw People
--The Origin of the Vagina Epilogue: Clinical Implications
--How are We to Explain the Successes? References
Index
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