4 ms·
Denial of Death by Ernest Becker is a great read.
by jger15 7y ago
Denial of Death by Ernest Becker is a great read.
- dang 7y agoI read it (well, parts) on a long plane ride recently. It's an interesting book—very 1970s and very much looking back to the existential psychotherapists and psychoanalysts of the mid-20th century. I do not say that as a bad thing, on the contrary. What surprised me most is how big a role Otto Rank plays in it. I only knew of Rank as the originator of the birth trauma theory and thought he was a minor disciple of Freud. Becker regards Rank as the greatest figure in the tradition after Freud if not greater. It made me want to learn more about Rank's work.
- 9214 7y agoRank's "The Myth of the Birth of the Hero" elaborates what Becker meant by "society as a heroic system", to a certain degree. I myself still in pursue of "Art & Artist" paper copy, regarded as his magnum opus.
- 9214 7y agoCame here to say exactly that.