Becker's hypothesis about psychic and spiritual unity within the Rankian idea of a hero provides the framework for this book. By extending Rank's and Becker's conceptions of heroism from a developmental process involving a «World Hero Child, » through a Monomythic narrative sequence (Campbell, 1968), and on into the literary texts of American fiction, this book illustrates Becker's wisdom. At the same time, it explores the implications that remain undeveloped in Becker's The Denial of Death, implications about gender, about modern technocratic life and about popular culture as blocks to heroism. The result is a synthesis of mythic-textual-psychoanalytical theory into a belief system that is perpetuated by resonant readings.

The most comprehensive resource available on creation myths from around the world—their narratives, themes, motifs, similarities, and differences—and what they reveal about their cultures of origin. ABC-CLIO's breakthrough reference work on creation beliefs from around the world returns in a richly updated and expanded new edition. From the Garden of Eden, to the female creators of Acoma Indians, to the rival creators of the Basonge tribe in the Congo, Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia, Second Edition examines how different cultures explain the origins of their existence. Expanded into two volumes, the new edition of Creation Myths of the World begins with introductory essays on the five basic types of creation stories, analyzing their nature and significance. Following are over 200 creation myths, each introduced with a brief discussion of its culture of origin. At the core of the new edition is its enhanced focus on creation mythology as a global human phenomenon, with greatly expanded coverage of recurring motifs, comparative themes, the influence of geography, the social impact of myths, and more.

Hercules, Zeus, Thor, Gilgamesh--these are the figures that leap to mind when we think of myth. But to David Leeming, myths are more than stories of deities and fantastic beings from non-Christian cultures. Myth is at once the most particular and the most universal feature of civilization, representing common concerns that each society voices in its own idiom. Whether an Egyptian story of creation or the big-bang theory of modern physics, myth is metaphor, mirroring our deepest sense of ourselves in relation to existence itself. Now, in The World of Myth, Leeming provides a sweeping anthology of myths, ranging from ancient Egypt and Greece to the Polynesian islands and modern science. We read stories of great floods from the ancient Babylonians, Hebrews, Chinese, and Mayans; tales of apocalypse from India, the Norse, Christianity, and modern science; myths of the mother goddess from Native American Hopi culture and James Lovelock's Gaia. Leeming has culled myths from Aztec, Greek, African, Australian Aboriginal, Japanese, Moslem, Hittite, Celtic, Chinese, and Persian cultures, offering one of the most wide-ranging collections of what he calls the collective dreams of humanity. More important, he has organized these myths according to a number of themes, comparing and contrasting how various societies have addressed similar concerns, or have told similar stories. In the section on dying gods, for example, both Odin and Jesus sacrifice themselves to renew the world, each dying on a tree. Such traditions, he proposes, may have their roots in societies of the distant past, which would ritually sacrifice their kings to renew the tribe. In The World of Myth, David Leeming takes us on a journey "not through a maze of falsehood but through a marvellous world of metaphor," metaphor for "the story of the relationship between the known and the unknown, both around us and within us." Fantastic, tragic, bizarre, sometimes funny, the myths he presents speak of the most fundamental human experience, a part of what Joseph Campbell called "the wonderful song of the soul's high adventure."

Kierkegaard has long been known as a philosopher and theologian, but his contributions to psychology, anthropology and sociology have also made an important impact on these fields. In many of the works of his complex authorship, Kierkegaard presents his intriguing and unique vision of the nature and mental life of human beings individually and collectively. The articles featured in the present volume explore the reception of Kierkegaard's thought in the social sciences. Of these fields Kierkegaard is perhaps best known in psychology, where The Concept of Anxiety and The Sickness unto Death have been the two most influential texts. With regard to the field of sociology, social criticism, or social theory, Kierkegaard's Literary Review of Two Ages has also been regarded as offering valuable insights about some important dynamics of modern society..

A fantastical, fast-paced science fiction novel of mystery and action from award-winning novelist Philip K. Dick.

The first book-length study of one of the most essential elements of hip-hop: musical borrowing

Ernest Becker (1924-1974) was an astute observer of society and human behavior during America’s turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Trained in social anthropology and driven by a transcending curiosity about human motivations, Becker doggedly pursued his basic research question, "What makes people act the way they do?" Dissatisfied with what he saw as narrowly fragmented methods in the contemporary social sciences and impelled by a belief that humankind more than ever needed a disciplined, rational, and empirically based understanding of itself, Becker slowly created a powerful interdisciplinary vision of the human sciences, one in which each discipline is rooted in a basic truth concerning the human condition. That truth became an integral part of Becker's emerging social science. Almost inadvertently, he outlined a perspective on human motivations that is perhaps the most broadly interdisciplinary to date. His perspective traverses not only the biological, psychological, and social sciences but also the humanities and educational, political, and religious studies. Ernest Becker is best known for the books written in the last few years before his death from cancer, including the highly praised Pulitzer Prize-winning volume The Denial of Death (1974) and Escape from Evil (1975). These late works, however, were built on a distinguished body of earlier books, essays, and reviews. The power and strength of Becker’s ideas are fully present in his early works, which underlie his later contributions and give direction for interpreting the development of his ideas. Although Ernest Becker's life and career were cut short, his major writings have remained continually in print and have captured the interest of subsequent generations of readers. The Ernest Becker Reader makes available for the first time in one volume much of Becker’s early work and thus places his later work in proper context. It is a major contribution to the ongoing interest in Becker's ideas.

"...a compelling story of female initiation." St. Petersburg Times "I read Patricia Edmistens dramatic and sensuous debut novel, The Mourning of Angels in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Her marvelous evocation of the first days of the Peace Corps provided an escape from the sadness of New York City, where I live, as well as a much-needed perspective on the savagery of that act. The Mourning of Angels captures the innocence of 1962 and 1963, before the Kennedy assassination, when many of us, swept up in the idealism of such a venture, joined the Peace Corps and journeyed to countries wed never heard of, and when young women seized the opportunity for a kind of adventure that until then had almost solely been the purview of men. Lydia Schaefer, Edmistens 23-year-old protagonist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a tough, principled, sometimes provocative, but always emotionally receptive young woman, determined to do her job as a health care worker, first in Arequipa, Peru and later in the coastal town of Ica. In straightforward, beautifully descriptive prose, subtly impregnated with the political and cultural history of Peru, Edmisten charts Lydia Schaefers journey from innocence--she is a Catholic girl, still a virgin, the product of a protective, loving home--to a stark, tragic maturity. Lydia describes her view beyond her barriada in Arequpa. Gray and white dominate the landscape. No road is paved. There are no trees. Nothing green. No spring flowers interfere with the dreariness. Looking up, however, there is visual relief. Misti, a 19,150-foot volcano, said to be dormant by experts, but alive to those who know her tremors, rises proudly over The City of my Hope. Snow lavishly bleeds down her sides, like the white mantle of the Madonna. As this image of the Virgins cloak implies, Lydia struggles with her strong Catholic beliefs in the face of rampant infant mortality, the yearly pregnancies of poor women, and the Churchs refusal to allow birth control. Interestingly, she never gives up her Catholicism, but rather gradually adapts the religion to her new knowledge and beliefs, much as Indians force the Catholic church to incorporate native rituals into the liturgy. She breaks her own rule to remain a virgin until marriage. With a sensuality that is both innocent and literally rapturous, Edmisten writes of Lydia making love with her in-country co-worker, Rafael. He is mestizo with a Spanish father and Indian mother. They are journeying bak to his village beyond Machu Picchu, when they stop to swim in a mountain pool and then make love. Rafaels kiss is moist and sweet, and as he eases on top of me, it becomes more familiar, more urgent. The air is fresh and fragrant, a light breeze glances off our warm bodies. I look up at blinding white clouds and reach my arms out to them. We remain immobile for a few minutes and then slowly rock. A condor soars overhead. I have read of eagles mating in mid-air, free falling, unaware of the doom below. It was like that. The doom she senses in her moment of sexual abandon fortells of political clashes and violence that will irrevocably change her life and radicalize her world view. Edmisten is masterful in portraying the customs, politics, food, suffering, playful activities and collective nature of life for the Indians of that region. She elegantly weaves in strands of history and political theory. Though generous of spirit throughout, by the end of her painful story, Edmisten has shown how the Church, the United States in its fight against communism during that period, the cultural innocence of Americans, the abusive powers within the country are all at least morally complicit in the continuance of devastating poverty, the subjugation of women, and the oppression of Indians. Reading The Mourning of Angels in a time of national mourning viscerally reminded me that other cultures and nations have suf