In the book, Otto Rank's views are presented in the main features, in particular, his approach to the study of mythology, which goes beyond the psychoanalysis of Z. Freud and anticipates the ideas of A. Adler. The universal principles of myth-making, rooted in the universal properties of the psyche, are analyzed on the basis of extensive material covering myths, legends, traditions of ancient Egypt, Babylon, Greco-Roman antiquity, the European Middle Ages and the East.