Shows us that much of the history of the human mind is lurking in the history of stories. Charting the long development of Western narrative from the ancient epic Gilgamesh to the allegories of Proust, it traces the discovery of personality through two main themes: the decline of magical thinking & the rise of the individual. Far more than a work of literary history, this book shows us not only stories & the world, but ourselves with different eyes. Equally illuminating on genealogical lists in the Bible, the Minoan labyrinth or the meaning of Christmas trees, Harbison reaches through literature to its most compelling invention -- the human personality.