Fire in the Dragon and Other Psychoanalytic Essays on Folklore

Gža Rh̤eim

Princeton University Press, Jul 15, 1992 - Literary Criticism - 194 pages

The only Freudian to have been originally trained in folklore and the first psychoanalytic anthropologist to carry out fieldwork, Gza Rcheim (1891-1953) contributed substantially to the worldwide study of cultures. Combining a global perspective with encyclopedic knowledge of ethnographic sources, this Hungarian analyst demonstrates the validity of Freudian theory in both Western and non-Western settings. These seventeen essays, written between 1922 and 1953, are among Rcheim's most significant published writings and are collected here for the first time to introduce a new generation of readers to his unique interpretations of myths, folktales, and legends.


From Australian aboriginal mythology to Native American trickster tales, from the Grimm folktale canon to Hungarian folk belief, Rcheim explores a wide range of issues, such as the relationship of dreams to folklore and the primacy of infantile conditioning in the formation of adult fantasy. An introduction by folklorist Alan Dundes describes Rcheim's career, and each essay is prefaced by a brief consideration of its intellectual and bibliographical context.

Contents

• Psychoanalysis and the Folktale: 3
• The Significance of Stepping Over: 11
• Magic and Theft in European Folklore: 19
• Myth and Folktale: 29
• Saint Agatha and the Tuesday Women: 43
• The Story of the Light That Disappeared: 59
• The Thread of Life: 87
• The Bear in the Haunted Mill: 103
• Culture Hero and Trickster in North American Mythology: 115
• Tom Tit Tot: 123
• Fire in the Dragon: 129
• Mythology of Arnhem Land: 139
• Fairy Tale and Dream: 147
• The Wolf and the Seven Kids: 161
• Hansel and Gretel: 167
• The Language of Birds: 171
• Dame Holle Dream and Folktale Grimm No 24: 181
• INDEX: 193

About the author

Anthropologist and folklorist Alan Dundes was born in 1934 in New York City. He received his BA in English in 1955 and his MAT in English in 1958, both from Yale University. He received his Ph.D in Folklore from Indiana University in 1962 and in 1963 he joined the teaching staff at the University of California, Berkley. He wrote over 250 journal articles and12 books and co-wrote more than 20 other books. In 1993, he became the first American to win the Pitre Prize's Sigillo d'Oro, which is an international life-time achievement award in folklore and ethnography. He died of a heart attack on March 30, 2004 at the age of 70.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Fire in the Dragon and Other Psychoanalytic Essays on Folklore; Bollingen Series; Mythos (Princeton, N.J.); Volume 51 of Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology
• Author: Gža Rh̤eim
• Editor: Alan Dundes
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1992
• ISBN: 0691028680, 9780691028682
• Length: 194 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology; Literary Criticism / Subjects & Themes / General; Psychology / General; Psychology / History; Psychology / Psychotherapy / Psychoanalysis; Social Science / Folklore & Mythology; Social Science / Sociology / General