Saturday, September 06, 2008
The Manticore
Robertson Davies
1972
This is a novel about a man telling his life story to a therapist. It is the second book in the Deptford Trilogy after Fifth Business.
I don't know anything about the difference between Jungian and Freudian psychoanalysts. I guess the Jungians are into dream interpretation. They also seem somewhat condescending towards the Freudians. Maybe. The book was boring and fascinating. Riveting action there was not, and attachment to the new characters was difficult, because there were so few of them, and they were so secondary. Mostly, David Staunton sits in therapy telling his life story. It dragged a bit. The chief delight was reading this as a sequel to the wonderful Fifth Business. It was just great to see what happens next. And reading so soon after Fifth Business seemed the proper way to read it because it was good to see all the outrageous characters again and find out what they've been up to. It was a lot like reading Lord of The Rings after just finishing The Hobbit. It was just comforting to have a loved and familiar story continue to be told.
Fascinating it was because of the intimacy in which Jungian analysis is revealed. It is fuzzy bit of science, and I think Davies purposely tries to portray it as such. It was a critical and insightful study of someone deep in therapy.
Robertson Davies
1972
This is a novel about a man telling his life story to a therapist. It is the second book in the Deptford Trilogy after Fifth Business.
I don't know anything about the difference between Jungian and Freudian psychoanalysts. I guess the Jungians are into dream interpretation. They also seem somewhat condescending towards the Freudians. Maybe. The book was boring and fascinating. Riveting action there was not, and attachment to the new characters was difficult, because there were so few of them, and they were so secondary. Mostly, David Staunton sits in therapy telling his life story. It dragged a bit. The chief delight was reading this as a sequel to the wonderful Fifth Business. It was just great to see what happens next. And reading so soon after Fifth Business seemed the proper way to read it because it was good to see all the outrageous characters again and find out what they've been up to. It was a lot like reading Lord of The Rings after just finishing The Hobbit. It was just comforting to have a loved and familiar story continue to be told.
Fascinating it was because of the intimacy in which Jungian analysis is revealed. It is fuzzy bit of science, and I think Davies purposely tries to portray it as such. It was a critical and insightful study of someone deep in therapy.
# posted by mz @ 2:17 PM 
