Synopses & Reviews
Prometheus the god stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on humans. In punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock, where an eagle clawed unceasingly at his liver, until Herakles freed him. For the Greeks, the myth of Prometheus's release reflected a primordial law of existence and the fate of humankind. Carl Kerényi examines the story of Prometheus and the very process of mythmaking as a reflection of the archetypal function and seeks to discover how this primitive tale was invested with a universal fatality, first in the Greek imagination, and then in the Western tradition of Romantic poetry. Kerényi traces the evolving myth from Hesiod and Aeschylus, and in its epic treatment by Goethe and Shelley; he moves on to consider the myth from the perspective of Jungian psychology, as the archetype of human daring signifying the transformation of suffering into the mystery of the sacrifice.
Review
"A sterling example of classical scholarship, literary exegesis, and cultural inference. . . . Not only does this book tell us much about man, through his prototypical image, but also much about the Greek civilization which created Prometheus in its image."--Contemporary Psychology
Review
A sterling example of classical scholarship, literary exegesis, and cultural inference. . . . Not only does this book tell us much about man, through his prototypical image, but also much about the Greek civilization which created Prometheus in its image. Contemporary Psychology
Synopsis
Prometheus the god stole fire from heaven and bestowed it on humans. In punishment, Zeus chained him to a rock, where an eagle clawed unceasingly at his liver, until Herakles freed him. For the Greeks, the myth of Prometheus's release reflected a primordial law of existence and the fate of humankind. Carl Kerényi examines the story of Prometheus and the very process of mythmaking as a reflection of the archetypal function and seeks to discover how this primitive tale was invested with a universal fatality, first in the Greek imagination, and then in the Western tradition of Romantic poetry. Kerényi traces the evolving myth from Hesiod and Aeschylus, and in its epic treatment by Goethe and Shelley; he moves on to consider the myth from the perspective of Jungian psychology, as the archetype of human daring signifying the transformation of suffering into the mystery of the sacrifice.
Table of Contents
| List of Plates | |
| Introduction | |
I | Who Is Goethe's Prometheus? | 3 |
II | The Titanic, and the Eternity of the Human Race | 19 |
III | The Prometheus Mythologem in the 'Theogony' | 33 |
IV | Archaic Prometheus Mythology | 50 |
V | Methodological Intermezzo | 63 |
VI | The World in Possession of Fire | 69 |
VII | The Fire Stealer | 77 |
VIII | The 'Prometheus Bound' | 83 |
IX | Prometheus the Knowing One | 93 |
X | The Promethean Prophecy | 107 |
XI | 'Prometheus Delivered' | 112 |
XII | Conclusion after Goethe | 129 |
| Abbreviations | 134 |
| List of Works Cited | 135 |
| Index | 145 |