Jung
and the Making of Modern Psychology: The Dream of A Science by Sonu Shamdasani
Cambridge University Press, December 2003 "Mandatory
reading for anyone connected with Pantheatre ! The most lucid and limpid overview
of the making of ideas in contemporary psychology. Especially relevant for artists
interested in psyche, and even more so if C. G. Jung is somehow a background figure
of reference and inspiration. Originally,
Sonu thought of using the word "prism" in the title and has included
a methodological chapter on how he chose to respond to Jung's kaleidoscopic, encyclopedic
ambitions: as through a cubist prism. He mentions as inspiring figures John Coltrane,
Fernando Pesoa, Carla Bley, Charlie Haden and, of course, Jose Luis Borges. In
terms of cubism, I would add "synthetic cubism" - possibly where Picasso's
image-thinking genius was at its most acute, gathering back and commenting the
splintering done by "analytical" cubism (the image-breaking Picasso-Braque
period.) Sonu does something similar, not only to Jung and to the splintering
of schools of psychology, but to the very concept of "analysis" itself
- he also coins the intellectual origins of how the word "analysis"
got into psychology, and "archetype", and even dreams for that matter
! At
the Pantheatre May 2001 Annual Workshop Symposium (the 20th anniversary one),
we had a round table on "Why Jung?": why does the figure of Jung appear
so often in the references and work of the circle of friends that inspire Pantheatre
- and some who have nothing to do with Jungian psychotherapy, like Charles Boer,
Jay Livernois, Stephen Karcher, Ginette Paris. Others are indeed 'Jungian' psychotherapists:
Nor Hall, Paul Kugler, Patricia Berry, to mention a few. Pantheatre and my own
work were primarily inspired not by the work of Jung but by James Hillman's, who
later honoured us accepting to be Pantheatre's honorary president*. The general
answer was: "not so much because Jung was a great thinker - but because he
opened and kept open the widest range of fields of psyche and of artistic-intellectual-therapeutic
investigations." Sunu's
book vindicates and fully qualifies this view. It is also very clear (and tough)
on any dogmatic or "scientific" links between metapsychological ideologies
and clinical claims. For artists, the book is at the same time sobering - even
disenchanting: a lot of inflated concepts that are used to back up artistic propositions
are knocked off their high horses - and refreshingly challenging in the 'poetic
justice' it does to artistic image-thinking ("le roi est nu!": Jung
obviously did not fear it, why should we?) Plus, and it is a great plus, Sonu's
writing is a gem of no-nonsense tact, and artful enunciation." *
A footnote on a footnote: Hillman is mentioned once in Sonu's book, in a footnote
on page 161. This footnote functions, from my point of view, like the proverbial
eye of the needle: the throng of ideas that fight for survival in the historico-scientific
grids of Sonu's book go through this footnote fulcrum and emerge radically altered
in Hillman's landscape of the imagination, where the dream is envisioned from
an artistic/dramatic point of view. Sonu's footnote states that Hillman's "The
Dream and the Underworld" is the exception to the lack of elaboration and
criticism in the psychology of dreams. You can deduce why the Hillman / Jung /
Shamdasani triangle is so interesting to us ! Enrique
Pardo, Paris, December 24, 2003
See
also Sonu
Shamdasani Cult
Fictions
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Stephen
Karcher : TOTAL I CHING Myths for Change
Time
Warner Books UK, London - published May 13 2003 |
Linda Wise : Placing The Voice, Excentric Views Delivered
at the Jung Society of Sydney in November 1998, within a cycle of talks dedicated
to Places. The notion of "placing one's voice" is central to voice
techniques. In this talk, Linda Wise opened perspectives on the links between
voice, place and psyche. Contact pan@pantheatre.com |
Mediterranean Mosaic - Popular Music and Global Sounds Edited by Goffredo
Plastino Routledge, New York, 2003, 336 pages Contents:
Introduction - Sailing the
Mediterranean Musics, by Goffredo Plastino 1.
Paint It Black, Cat - Rock, Pop and the Mediterranean, by Franco Fabbri 2.
Seeking Connections through a Sea - Mediterranean Sounds in Spanish Folk and
Popular Music, by Silvia Martinez 3.
Moroccan World Beat through the Media, by Antonio Baldassarre 4.
Pop-Ra - From a Local Tradition to Globalization, by Gabriele Marranci 5.
"New Sounds, Old Tunes" - Tunisian Media Stars Reinterpret the Ma'luf,
by Ruth Davis 6.
Some Meanings of the Spanish Tinge in Contemporary Egyptian Music, by Michael
Frishkopf 7. Yam
Tikhniyut - Transformations of Mediterraneanism in Israeli Music, by Edwin
Seroussi 8. Crossing
the Boundaries - The Akdeniz Scene and Mediterraneanness, by Yetkin ?zer 9.
Between East and West - Contemporary Grooves in Greek Popular Music (c. 1990-2000),
by Kevin Dawe 10.
Klapa Singing and Ca-val - The Mediterranean Dimension of Popular Music in
Croatia, by Yosko Caleta 11.
Inventing Ethnic Music - Fabrizio De Andr?'s Creuza de ma and the Creation
of Musica mediterranea in Italy 12.
Sacred Popular Music of the Mediterranean and the Journey to Jerusalem, by
Philip V. Bohlman |
Wolfgang Giegerich : The Soul's Logical Life
Recommended
by Sonu Shamdasani in the following terms : "He has a great section on how the
Jungians have forfeited Jung's inheritance. His critique of archetypal psychology,
which I find trenchant, is really the most important thing that has been written
on the subject since "Re-visioning Psychology" (by James Hillman, 1975), and is
historically significant - as I see it, anyone associated with archetypal psychology
has to address his critique." The
Soul's Logical Life, Art.-No. 33277 orders from Peter Lang AG -- P.O. Box
277 Jupiterstrasse 15 CH-3000 Bern 15, Switzerland Phone: ++41 (31) 940 21 21
Fax: ++41 (31) 940 21 31 e-mail: 101630.1473@compuserve.com It's probably easiest
to order by e-mail. They take credit cards (VISA and Eurocard/MasterCard). Recommended
price: DM 78.- / US $ 45.95 plus postage. Announcement of the book (table of contents
and preface of the book) : http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gesundheitsdatenschutz/soullogc.htm
Enrique Pardo - Shadow Boxing VIDEO documentary A
superbly assembled video documentary on a 5 day workshop directed by Enrique Pardo
at the International Workshop Festival, at the Chisenhale Dance
Space, London, September '97. The editing follows subtly and with great humour
Enrique's pedagogical and mythological commentaries: one hears the instructions,
the critical comments, the mythological associations, while watching the participants
at work - mainly actors and dancers, but including non performers (visual artists,
therapists). Enrique carried a discreet radio microphone which recorded some of
the more intimate exchanges. The
tape is 110 minutes long, and is of interest mainly to those familiar with Enrique's
work and mythological research. It condenses a 5 day introduction to his work,
starting with basic choreographic exercices and leading to more complex acting
with texts. Copies
are available, in any of the world's formats - i.e.SECAM, NTSC, PAL etc. The cost
per copy which is on VHS High Grade quality tape and includes a white plastic
case is £10 per tape for individuals , plus £2.50 for the postage
and packaging. Orders must be accompanied by payment in sterling made payable
to the Arts Documentation Unit - cheque drawn on an English bank, international
Postal Money order ( available in the USA and Canada), Eurocheque in sterling
etc. The Arts Archives has some 50 master teachers documentaries available.
Peter Hulton Arts Documentation
Unit 6a Devonshire Place Exeter EX4 6JA. U.K. P.R.Hulton@ex.ac.uk P.R.Hulton@ex.ac.uk Rafael
Lopez-Pedraza // Anselm Kiefer Note
from Enrique : An extraordinary book, especially in its reflection on the notion
of "shadow" : "Anselm Kiefer - After the Catastrophe", by Rafael Lopez-Pedraza,
who wrote "Hermes and his Children", one of the founding books of Pantheatre
(Pan is one of Hermes' children). This new book is a dialogue between the work
of a now famous contemporary german painter, and a jungian approach to the notion
of shadow. One need not like or agree with either, but the quality and depth of
reflection of Lopez-Pedraza's is stunning. It
is also Serious with the biggest capital "S" I can imagine - which I consider
a salutary portent when about to embark on a 'cabaret' on shadow! (performed in
Cambridge, April 98). I came across the book while in Rome, setting up the "Superstition"
project - also an encouraging portent ! Thames
and Hudson - London1996 - ISBN 0-500-01757-3
Sonu Shamdasani out in the battlefield
Sonu was one of the scholars who questioned the way the centennial exhibition
on Sigmund Freud was being set up by the Library of Congress in Washington; it
was postponed after huge international polemics. You can browse through that battlefield
visiting a special web site : visit
http://www.shamdasani.u-net.com/freudexhibition.htm In the meantime,
Sonu has taken on another battlefield, the Jungian one, this time! Here is the
announcement for the book: Cult
Fictions C. G. Jung and the Founding of Analytical Psychology Routledge,
March 1998 "As
the inspection of Freud's legacy leads scholars to seriously examine his persona,
so has analytical psychology come under scrutiny in a whirl of controversy over
the character of its founder, C. G. Jung, including claims that Jung was a charlatan
and a self-appointed demi-god. It is claimed that this cult is alive and well
in Jungian psychology today, which continues to masquerade as a genuine professional
discipline, whilst selling false dreams of spiritual redemption. In
Cult Fictions, leading Jung scholar Sonu Shamdasani presents the history of the
movement's founding, from Jung's establishment of the Psychological Club in Zurich
in 1916 to the reformulations of his approach by his followers. It assesses the
evidence for the cultic allegations, which it demonstrates to be fallacious. Cult
Fictions presents a sober, accurate and revealing account of the history of the
Jungian movement and an agenda for the evaluation of analytical psychology today."
Ginette Paris : Mythology CDRom
Ginette Paris and a team of researchers have completed a colossal CDRom on mythology
(Greek): sources, references, indexes, it is all in there, illustrations and all!
Incredibly helpful to consult. She has also set up a Foundation for Mythological
Studies around this project. Now on Mac and PC versions. Foundation
for Mythological Studies 930 Culebra Road - Hillsborough, CA - 94010 USA **
Centre JA De Seve * UQAM * C.P. 8888, Succursale Centre-Ville * Montreal, Quebec
* H3C 3P8 * Canada * T: (514) 987-3000, ext3086 # * F:(514) 987-7917 *
Foundation
website : www.mythology.org
/// email : centrejadeseve@uqam.ca
Enrique Pardo : "The
Angels' Hideout", published in Performance Research Journal,
UK, Sept 98. Includes reflections on text in choreographic theatre (strategies
of Conversion and Contradiction) - mythological speculations on dance, on angels
and emotion, and on the 1996 performance "The Angels' Hideout". Contact
pan@pantheatre.com
"Dark Voices - The Genesis of Roy Hart Theatre”
New & Revised Edition - Spring Journal Books 2005
"Noah Pikes has assembled for the first time a narrative which traces not only the stories and achievements of Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart - pioneers in extended voice and interdisciplinary theatre respectively - but also a cast of characters who made up Roy Hart Theatre in the 60s and 70s". This new edittion includes letters exchanged between Alfred Wolfsohn and C.G. Jung.
Europe - 25 € or £18 (Including P&P)
from: Noah Pikes,CAIRH, Maléragues, 30140 Anduze, FRANCE
noahpikes@compuserve.com
USA : www.springjournalandbooks.com
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Spring Journal
Orders from Spring
Journal Publications
Issue
68 ON JUNGIAN FUNDAMENTALISM - AND OTHERS
Issue
66 DIVINATIONS has 2 articles by Stephen Karcher, one by Rachel Pollack,
and eight other articles. Spring
67-Narcissism - includes Enrique Pardo's article on
Romeo Castellucci.
A
wit (not Oscar Wilde!) once said that a narcissist is anyone who looks better
than you do. But really-what do Jungians and post-Jungians think of this psychological
term that is oh so Freudian? After all Jung mentioned narcissism only once in
his writings (see the quote below), and James Hillman writes on it lightly, and
then, like Jung, primarily to criticize and dismiss it. Why is this? Is it because
from an archetypal position narcissism is simply a confusion of the myth and image
with a complex of egotistical subjectivity? Or is there a deeper philosophical
problem in narcissism connected to a way of being which seems endemic to a Hollywood
driven imagination and is viewed with contempt by intellectuals? Spring 67
takes on these questions of narcissism and more. Mythologist, translator, and
former editor Charles Boer goes right to the problem and asks if perhaps it is
a question of Hermes. Anais Spitzer looks at Narcissus mythologically and psychologically
along with the classical figures of Eros and Oedipus. Greg Mogenson tackles the
question connecting it with the problem of shame. Plus this issue has a brilliant
article by the European director and actor Enrique Pardo on Italian theatre (acting-is
there a more narcissistic profession?). There is also James Siegel on a new idea
of the microcosm, a memoir by the New York artist Ann McCoy of Mary Bancroft (an
anti-narcissist if there ever was one), a chapter from Michael Ortiz Hill's new
book on Africa (written in his seductive Californian style), a Robert Henderson
interview of Joseph Henderson, Tom Cheetham on Henry Corbin, and more. "Every
man who pursues his own goal is a 'narcissist' - though one wonders how permissible
it is to give such wide currency to a term specifically coined for the pathology
of neurosis. The statement therefore amounts to nothing; it merely elecits the
faint surprise of a bon mot." C. G. Jung |
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