The Ecocritical Psyche unites literary studies, ecocriticism, Jungian ideas, mythology and complexity evolution theory for the first time, developing the aesthetic aspect of psychology and science as deeply as it explores evolution in Shakespeare and Jane Austen. In this book, Susan Rowland scrutinizes literature to understand how we came to treat 'nature' as separate from ourselves and encourages us to re-think what we call 'human.' By digging into symbolic, mythological and evolutionary fertility in texts such as The Secret Garden, The Tempest, Wuthering Heights and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the book argues that literature is where the imagination, estranged from nature in modernity, is rooted in the non-human other. The Ecocritical Psyche is unique in its interdisciplinary expansion of literature, psyche, science and myth. It develops Jungian aesthetics to show how Jung's symbols correlate with natural signifying, providing analytical psychology with a natural home in ecocritical literary theory. The book is therefore essential reading for seasoned analysts and those in training as well as academics involved in literary studies and Jungian psychology.

Jungian Perspectives on Rebirth and Renewal brings together an international selection of contributors on the themes of rebirth and renewal. With their emphasis on evolutionary ancestral memories, creation myths and dreams, the chapters in this collection explore the indigenous and primordial bases of these concepts. Presented in eight parts, the book elucidates the importance of indirect, associative, mythological thinking within Jungian psychology and the efficacy of working with images as symbols to access unconscious creative processes. Part I begins with a comparative study of the significance of the phoenix as symbol, including its image as Jung’s family crest. Part II focuses on Native American indigenous beliefs about the transformative power of nature. Part III examines synchronistic symbols as liminal place/space, where the relationship between the psyche and place enables a co-evolution of the psyche of the land. Part IV presents Jung’s travels in India and the spiritual influence of Indian indigenous beliefs had on his work. Part V expands on the rebirth of the feminine as a dynamic, independent force. Part VI analyses ancestral memories evoked by the phoenix image, exploring archetypal narratives of infancy. Part VII focuses on eco-psychological, synchronistic carriers of death, rebirth and renewal through mythic characterisations. Finally, part VIII explores the mythopoetic, visionary dimensions of rebirth and renewal that give literary expression to indigenous people/primordial psyche re-navigated through popular literature. The chapters both mirror and synchronise a rebirth of Jungian and non-Jungian academic interest in indigenous peoples, creation myths, oral traditions and narrative dialogue as the ‘primordial psyche’ worldwide, and the book includes one chapter supplemented by an online video. This collection will be inspiring reading for academics and students of analytical psychology, Jungian and post-Jungian studies and mythology, as well as analytical psychologists, Jungian analysts and Jungian psychotherapists. To access the online video which accompanies Evangeline Rand's chapter, please request a password at http://www.evangelinerand.com/life_threads_orissa_awakenings.html

Although current environmental debates lay the focus on the Industrial Revolution as a sociopolitical development that has led to the current environmental crisis, many ecocritical projects have avoided historicizing their concepts or have been characterized by approaches that were either pre-historic or post-historic: while the environmental movement has harbored the dream of restoring nature to a state untouched by human hands, there is also the pessimistic vision of a post-apocalyptic world, exhausted by humanity’s consumption of natural resources. Against this background, the decline of nature has become a narrative template quite common among the public environmental discourse and environmental scientists alike. The volume revisits Antiquity as an epoch which witnessed similar environmental problems and came up with its own interpretations and solutions in dealing with them. This decidedly historical perspective is not only supposed to fill in a blank in ecocritical discourse, but also to question, problematize, and inform our contemporary debates with a completely different take on “nature” and humanity’s place in the world. Thereby, a productive dialogue between contemporary ecocritical theories and the classical tradition is established that highlights similarities as well as differences. This volume is the first book to bring ecocriticism and the classical tradition into a comprehensive dialogue. It assembles recognized experts in the field and advanced scholars as well as young and aspiring ecocritics. In order to ensure a dialogic exchange between the contributions, the volume includes four response essays by established ecocritics which embed the sections within a larger theoretical and practical ecocritical framework and discuss the potential of including the pre-modern world into our environmental debates.

Ecocriticism has emerged as one of the most fascinating and rapidly growing fields of recent literary and cultural studies. From its regional origins in late-twentieth-century Anglo-American academia, it has become a worldwide phenomenon, which involves a decidedly transdisciplinary and transnational paradigm that promises to return a new sense of relevance to research and teaching in the humanities. A distinctive feature of the present handbook in comparison with other survey volumes is the combination of ecocriticism with cultural ecology, reflecting an emphasis on the cultural transformation of ecological processes and on the crucial role of literature, art, and other forms of cultural creativity for the evolution of societies towards sustainable futures. In state-of-the-art contributions by leading international scholars in the field, this handbook maps some of the most important developments in contemporary ecocritical thought. It introduces key theoretical concepts, issues, and directions of ecocriticism and cultural ecology and demonstrates their relevance for the analysis of texts and other cultural phenomena.

Anaïs Nin: A Myth of Her Own traces Nin’s literary craft by following the intimacy of self-exploration and poetic expression attained in the details of the quotidian, transfigured into fiction. By digging into the mythic tropes that permeate both her literary diaries and fiction, this book demonstrates that Nin constructed a mythic method of her own, revealing the extensive possibilities of an opulent feminine psyche. Clara Oropeza demonstrates that the literary diary, for Nin, is a genre that with its traces of trickster archetype, among others, reveals a mercurial, yet particular understanding of an embodied and at times mystical experience of a writer. The cogent analysis of Nin’s fiction alongside the posthumously published unexpurgated diaries, within the backdrop of emerging psychological theories, further illuminates Nin’s contributions as an experimental and important modernist writer whose daring and poetic voice has not been fully appreciated. By extending research on diary writing and anchoring Nin’s literary style within modernist traditions, this book contributes to the redefinition of what literary modernism was comprised, who participated and how it was defined. Anaïs Nin: A Myth of Her Own is unique in its interdisciplinary expansion of literature, literary theory, mythological studies and depth psychology. By considering the ecocritical aspects of Nin’s writing, this book forges a new paradigm for not only Nin’s work, but for critical discussions of self-life writing as a valid epistemological and aesthetic form. This impressive work will be of great interest to academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, literary studies, cultural studies, mythological studies and women’s studies.

Narcissism is epidemic and there is scarcely a domain that is immune to its effects. A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump brings together bestselling authors, university professors, and practicing clinicians to explore this vital topic. “Every country has the government it deserves,” said Alexis de Tocqueville, author of Democracy in America. Whatever history eventually records about the 2016 presidential election, this frank and thoughtful exploration of narcissism will prove to be a timely and timeless study. Narcissism demands to be mirrored and refuses to be challenged. It demands acclaim, obedience, and accommodation, while disregarding others. Whether narcissism overtakes the home, the workplace, or the national stage, everyone who comes under Narcissus’s spell, both the narcissist and their subjects, suffer. Pundits insist that politics has seldom been as polarized as it became during the 2016 election in the United States. This was a coincidence of opposites, a coincidentia oppositorum. While Donald Trump galvanized vast numbers of angry, disaffected voters, Senator Bernie Sanders mobilized enormous crowds of young voters who seemed passionately committed to revolutionizing American politics. Regardless of the winner of the contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, it is vital to recognize what is happening on this global stage of politics. A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump explores the phenomenon of Trump as well as the vast landscape of narcissism in general. The contributors share a hope that these essays will become a mirror for the reader and for a nation called to examine itself. Dr. Estés reminds us in the closing pages, “We were made for times like these.” (Contributors include: Jean Shinoda Bolen, James Hollis, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Susan Rowland, and more than a dozen others. For more information: trumpnarcissism.com)

Bringing together two parallel and occasionally intersecting disciplines - the environmental and medical humanities - this field-defining handbook reveals our ecological predicament to be a simultaneous threat to human health. The book: · Represents the first collection to bring the environmental humanities and medical humanities into conversation in a systematic way · Features contributions from a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives including literary studies, environmental ethics and philosophy, cultural history and sociology · Adopts a truly global approach, examining contexts including, but not limited to, North America, the UK, Africa, Latin America, South Asia, Turkey and East Asia · Touches on issues and approaches such as narrative medicine, ecoprecarity, toxicity, mental health, and contaminated environments. Showcasing and surveying a rich spectrum of issues and methodologies, this book looks not only at where research currently is at the intersection of these two important fields, but also at where it is going.