Otto Rank, (22-Apr-1884 to 1939), was an Austrian psychologist and part of Sigmund Freud’s inner circle. In later years, Rank broke with Freud, who had been somewhat of a father figure to him, ironically fulfilling half of the Oedipus complex about which they parted ways. Rank was the first to apply the psychoanalytic method to comparative mythology. He linked the cross-cultural similarities in myths, folklore and legends By doing so, Rank began to unravel certain mysteries of the human psyche. Otto Rank’s work was foundational to the insights of C.G. Jung, Joseph Campbell and others.
In his work The Trauma of Birth, Rank bypasses the tortuous path of psychoanalysis for the road to achieving an “ecology of the psyche”. In the introduction to, The Myth of the Birth of the Hero, Rank writes of religions, myths, and fables, “…even though widely separated by space and entirely independent of each other– [these] present a baffling similarity or, in part, a literal correspondence.”
E. James Lieberman, Acts of Will: The Life and Work of Otto Rank, explains the complexity of the conflicts within Freud’s circle of followers, both personal and professional. The book also explores the strangeness of Otto Rank’s intellectual development, and the power and originality of his ideas.
What emerges in this book by E. James Lieberman is a fascinating portrait of a brilliant psychoanalyst, not without his own difficulties and idiosyncrasies, yet who was nevertheless able to contribute to a great many people as a friend, mentor, therapist and scholar.
