Riddle

He heard the Sphinx, however, as a riddle, setting him a problem. He heard with a heroic ear... For the mightiest man, an enigma becomes a problem to be solved, vanquished. Yet an ainigma... refers to 'all things with a second sense: symbols, oracles, Pythagorean wise-sayings.'

Hillman argues that Oedipus's heroic reduction of the Sphinx's ainigma to a solvable riddle exemplifies the ego's catastrophic failure to sustain polysemous, oracular meaning — transforming a symbol into a problem.

Hillman, James, Mythic Figures, 2007thesis

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She put three riddles to each one of her suitors, and if he failed to guess every one, she killed him. Although none had been able to redeem her by guessing the riddles and many had lost their lives, Peter decided to try.

Von Franz illustrates the fairy-tale figure of the riddle as a deadly threshold test through which the bewitched anima-princess can only be redeemed by a hero aided by forces beyond ego competence.

von Franz, Marie-Louise, The Interpretation of Fairy Tales, 1970thesis

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the burden of the human mind or the great riddle, which is basically a universal and perennial problem, presses itself upon him in the concrete coloring or formulation that this problem has reached in today's specific, determinate situation.

Giegerich frames the 'great riddle' of human existence as a universal but historically inflected burden that psychology must engage in its culturally specific form rather than as a timeless abstraction.

Giegerich, Wolfgang, The Soul’s Logical Life Towards a Rigorous Notion of, 2020thesis

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A third and final riddle is, 'Are emotions real?' ... this third riddle is like the falling tree and the red apple: a dilemma about what exists in the world versus in the human brain. The riddle forces us to confront our assumptions about the nature of reality and our role in creating it.

Barrett employs the riddle as an epistemological provocation, using the question of emotional reality to interrogate the boundary between perceiver-independent and mind-constructed categories.

Barrett, Lisa Feldman, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain, 2017supporting

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There is an ancient riddle, attributed to Sappho, that expresses their attitude... What creature is

Carson situates an archaic riddle attributed to Sappho within an analysis of writing's secrecy and the erotic charge of folded, concealed meaning — the riddle as vehicle of eros and linguistic hiddenness.

Carson, Anne, Eros the Bittersweet: An Essay, 1986supporting

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Unlike most proverbs, this one begins by asking questions similar to a riddle. The answer to the riddle comes in verse 30. Clearly, this situation results from the specific sin of drinking wine to excess.

Shaw notes the riddle-form of a biblical proverb on drunkenness as a rhetorical device that addresses any excessive substance use rather than confining judgment to the committed drunkard.

Shaw, Mark E., The Heart of Addiction: A Biblical Perspective, 2008aside

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"Zarathustra! Zarathustra! Guess my

Edinger cites Nietzsche's 'ugliest man' issuing a challenge to Zarathustra to 'guess my riddle,' framing the shadow's demand for recognition as an implicit riddle that the hero of consciousness must face.

Edinger, Edward F., The Mysterium Lectures: A Journey Through C.G. Jung's Mysterium Coniunctionis, 1995aside

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