science

The Myth of the Birth of the Hero

The Myth of the Birth of the Hero is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Myth of the Birth of the Hero rather than just read about it. In short: The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (German: Der Mythus von der Geburt des Helden) is a book by Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank in which the author puts forth a psychoanalytical interpretation of mythological heroes, specifically with regard to legends about their births. The first edition of the book was published in 1909, and a greatly expanded second edition was published in 1922.

Key takeaways

The Myth of the Birth of the Hero belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Myth of the Birth of the Hero to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Myth of the Birth of the Hero from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Myth of the Birth of the Hero (German: Der Mythus von der Geburt des Helden) is a book by Austrian psychoanalyst Otto Rank in which the author puts forth a psychoanalytical interpretation of mythological heroes, specifically with regard to legends about their births. The first edition of the book was published in 1909, and a greatly expanded second edition was published in 1922. The work was later translated into English in 2004 by Gregory C. Richter and E. James Lieberman.

Summary The Myth of the Birth of the Hero comprises three parts (the first two sections were originally published in 1909, and the final section was added when the work was republished in 1922). In the first section, Rank introduces his topic of investigation, noting: "Whatever one’s opinion as to their origin, one is struck by an insistent tendency in the myths to make all heroic figures fit the framework of a specific birth legend." He then emphasizes "the role played by unconscious psychosexual life in myth formation." In the work's second section, Rank closely analyzes mythes about the births of Sargon of Akkad, Moses, Karna, Oedipus, Paris, Telephos, Perseus, Dionysus, Gilgamesh, Cyrus the Great, Trakhan, Tristan, Romulus, Hercules, Jesus, Sigurd, Lohengrin, and Sceafa. In the final section, Rank lays out a rough outline that he claims can be applied to almost all mythical birth stories:

The hero is the child of very distinguished parents, and usually the son of a king. His origin is preceded by difficulties, such as sexual abstinence, prolonged infertility, or secret intercourse of the parents due to external prohibition or obstacles. During or before the pregnancy, a prophecy, in the form of a dream or oracle, warns against his birth, usually threatening harm to the father. Therefore the newborn child, usually at the instigation of the father or his representative, is doomed to be killed or exposed. As a rule, he is surrendered to the water, in a box. He is then saved by animals, or by lowly people (herders), and suckled by a female animal or a lowly woman. After he has grown up, he finds his distinguished parents in a variety of ways. He takes revenge on his father, on the one hand, and is acknowledged, on the other, achieving greatness and fame.

Publication history The first edition of The Myth of the Birth of the Hero was published in 1909 by Franz Deuticke. An English translation of this edition (translated by E. Robbins and Smith Ely Jelliffe) was later issued in 1914 as an eighteenth entry in the "Nervous and Mental Disease" monograph series by the Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company. An expanded second edition was published in German by Franz Deuticke in 1922. This edition remained officially unavailable in English until 2004, when a version translated by Gregory C. Richter and E. James Lieberman was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.

Reception Kaës René, writing in The International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis, called The Myth of the Birth of the Hero a "'cornerstone' of the psychoanalytic study of mythology," which "open[ed] up original perspectives in the methodological approach to the problem of the formation and function of myths."

See also Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) James George Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890–1915) The Rank–Raglan mythotype

References

Bibliography Kaës, René (2005). "Myth of the Birth of the Hero, The". In de Mijolla, Alain (ed.). The International Dictionary of Psychoanalysis. Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 1093–1094. Rank, Otto (1909). Der Mythus von der Geburt des Helden: Versuch einer psychologischen Mythendeutung (in German) (1st ed.). Leipzig: Franz Deuticke – via Google Books. Rank, Otto (1922). Der Mythus von der Geburt des Helden: Versuch einer psychologischen Mythendeutung (in German) (2nd ed.). Leipzig: Franz Deuticke – via The Internet Archive. Rank, Otto (1914). The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Interpretation of Mythology. Translated by Robbins, E.; Jelliffe, Smith Ely (1st ed.). New York City: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing Company – via Google Books. Rank, Otto (2004). The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of Myth. Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins University Press. Segal, Robert A. (2004). "Introductory Essay". The Myth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological Exploration of Myth. Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. vii–xxxviii.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Myth of the Birth of the Hero

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Myth of the Birth of the Hero claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Myth of the Birth of the Hero before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Myth of the Birth of the Hero ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Myth of the Birth of the Hero

In research: The Myth of the Birth of the Hero appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Myth of the Birth of the Hero in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Myth of the Birth of the Hero is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1909 non-fiction books, 1922 non-fiction books, Austrian non-fiction books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Myth of the Birth of the Hero outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Myth of the Birth of the Hero in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Myth of the Birth of the Hero means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Myth of the Birth of the Hero out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Myth of the Birth of the Hero in simple terms?

Why does The Myth of the Birth of the Hero matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Myth of the Birth of the Hero?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Myth of the Birth of the Hero.