| Psychoanalytic Approaches to Myth Contributor(s): Merkur, Daniel (Author) |
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ISBN: 0824059360 ISBN-13: 9780824059361 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $161.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: November 2004 Annotation: 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. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Psychology | Movements - Psychoanalysis - Social Science | Folklore & Mythology |
| Dewey: 150.195 |
| LCCN: 2006278709 |
| Series: Theorists of Myth |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 6.08" W x 9.28" (0.80 lbs) 172 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |