Freedom in the Face of Fate
This chapter explores May’s leading role as the American leader of the existential psychology movement and the irony that as he gained in notice and attended a series of international conference, he came to realize that Existentialism had much in the way of American roots, especially in the work of William James. He was critical of his European colleagues for their narrower conception of existential thought. Meanwhile, with Existence published and an existential movement under way, May turned to his longstanding interest in creativity and in that regard participated in various panels and article collections on the topic. He also edited, with a long introduction, Symbolism in Religion and Literature. But, in attempting at least two novels in various versions, he found that writing about literature wasn’t quite the same as creating it. Meanwhile, he developed various strong friendships at Yale, especially William Sloane Coffin.