Psychoanalytic Approaches to Myth: Freud and the Freudians (Theorists of Myth)

This book surveys the history of psychoanalytic treatments of myths variously as symptoms of psychopathology, as cultural defense mechanisms, and as metaphoric expressions of ideas that may include therapeutic insights. 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 s Sigmund Freud (1856 to 1939), the founder of psychoanalysis, mentioned myths both in passing and as brief digressions in his writings, but he never devoted an extended methodological or theoretical discussion to the topic. Dan Merkur. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 141-156) And Index.