Just before the first world war, the 38-year-old Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung was troubled by awful dreams and visions. Analytical to the core, he embarked on what he later described as his "confrontation with the unconscious", and documented the lot.
The material went through various drafts before Jung recopied it all, using an ornate gothic script, into the single big, red, leather journal which gives the previously "lost" Red Book its popular name. Jung went on to add historiated (enlarged) initials, ornamental borders and a substantial number of paintings (see Soul pictures).
Though it was written for public consumption, Jung eventually decided not to publish it and put it to one side. After his death in 1961, the Jung family declined access to all comers. But nearly 50 years later, after years of dialogue with the Jungs, translation and editing, it is now published. And for such an arcane work, it is generating quite a buzz. Its true importance, however, will be to the western intellectual tradition as a whole. More...
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