Rollo May: The Cry for Myth

I have just recently finished reading of another book about my favorite topic - mythology. This time it was a book by an American existentialist psychologist Rollo May (1909-1994) called The Cry for Myth and which was published in 1991. Since I do not know much about psychology, I was not sure if I would be able to understand the book. But I must admit that the book turned out to be a big surprise.

The book is divided into two major parts. The first part is theoretical. In it, May presents some ideas about the nature of myth and mythology. I did not enjoy this part much because it is based on a very eclectic theoretical approach. He quotes two different Malinowski’s ideas about the nature of myth - once, myth serves deep moral cravings, for the second time, it enforces morality. May then quotes Jung and says that myths express the deep collective unconscious and immediately after this he quotes Lévi-Strauss for whom “the myth describes lived experience”. And finally May expresses the sociological point of view saying: “Each myth in human history is interpreted according to the needs of society which it reflects.” And of course, what a book about psychology would it be were there no Freud.

“Each myth in human history is interpreted according to the needs of society which it reflects.”

As far as I remember, Malinowski’s gave many different impressions on the nature of myth. Also, it is not easy to reconcile Jungian structuralism with that of Lévi-Strauss (Moreover, there are more important aspects of Lévi-Strauss theory of myth than the mere fact that “the myth describes lived experience”). And the social dimension of myth is yet another dimension. I am not saying that it is impossible to reconcile all the theories present in May’s book, but May in his book does not offer such a reconciliation. May’s theory is a theoretical schizophrenia.

Fortunately, the second part of the book is far better than the first. May attempts to explain some pervasive myths of the Western civilization. He scrutinizes traditional Western myths on which our civilization rests. To give some examples - with Dante, he undergoes the journey to Hell, he visits some of the famous Jay Gatsby’s parties and offers a diagnosis of our times of unbridled individualism, he scales the walls of the castle in which Briar Rose sleeps and teaches us something about love and breakups, and he gives his readers four different interpretations of the myth of Dr. Faustus. May’s interpretations of literary pieces are not pursued for aesthetic or purely aesthetic ends. His interpretations are entangled in a particular social milieu. And as a psychologist, May shows how these myths can be used for therapeutic purposes.

As a social anthropologist I was very delighted when reading the second part. I would liken May’s approach to the approaches of Northrop Frye or Charles Wright Mills who both knew very well that understanding literature can explain a lot about the world we live in even though the people we study do not enjoy reading novels or going to the theatre. I would recommend reading The Cry for Myth to anyone because it is a highly readable book, especially because of its second and proportionally longer part.

Maybe you are not interested in mythology but I bet that if you read May’s book carefully it will help you overcome some personal crisis.


MAY, Rollo: The Cry for Myth. New York and London, W & W Norton Company, 1991.


Pictures used
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Gustave_Dore_Inferno1.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Meynell_Rheam_-_Sleeping_Beauty.jpg