Letters at 3Am: Reports on Endarkenment

Book Description

From a strip club in Indiana to ritual gatherings near Austin, Texas—from Brooklyn in the 50s to L.A. in the 90s—Michael Ventura takes us on a tour of the American psyche and speaks out on a civilization in seeming agony.

This is the only collection of one of America's original writers observing and pondering the implications of the current state of the American psyche. His grasp of war, jazz, religion, and death are of "uncompromising spirit", says Andre Codrescu. "The Report on Endarkenment," says Robert Bly, "is the greatest essay written by a member of his gengeration."

Customer Reviews:

A Student.......2000-10-24

Michael Ventura teaches at my school. Often he has read things to us in his writing class, and sometimes they have been things he himself has written. He is incredibly wise, wheather he knows it or not, and is a voice that should be heard. Buy this book because, and trust me on this as a student of his, you will not regret it.

The New American Bible--Once.......2000-06-03

This collection of essays blew my mind in a big way when I first stumbled onto them in the early 90s. Of course, I was a fan of Ventura's "LA Weekly" column, from which many of these essays come. And Ventura read these essays on Pacifica's KPFK here in Los Angeles, so hearing his magnetic voice read these be-boppin jazz-style essays was a double plus. No one else, at that terrifying time in America, seemed to be saying the things that needed to be said about the Gulf War, mental illness, the fact that our jobs are killing us, and the need for a spirituality of compassion in the barren American landscape of the post-Reagan years. Ventura's essays on Las Vegas are fun. I re-read them every time I venture off to Sin City. I often have my students read Ventura's essays to see what voice and presence in writing are all about--he's got it.

These essays now might seem a little bit dated and heavy-handed; but they can still pack a wallop to the sophomoric mind and those just starting to struggle with life issues--Ventura is perfect for those in their 20s--or their midlife crisis. Put on a Mingus or Parker CD while you read, and it'll be quite an experience.

Ventura is a truly American voice on par with Dos Passos or Randolph Bourne (who? )

multe bene.......1999-10-07

havnt read it yet... but needless to say its a good book..

Letters At 3A.M.: Reports on Endarkenment.......1999-01-31

I not only have read this book, but I also work for the publisher.

To start, I would like to say that this book is not out of print.

Personally, at Spring Publications (the publisher) we do some pretty heavy, dry writing. But Michal Ventura lightens things up just a bit with his looks into the American way of life. His essays range in topic from the neo-pagan rituals that he has participated (The Witness Tree) in to his own alcholism (In Defence of Alchol). (in his words, "I don't like to drink alone, I love it.")

For anyone looking to find good left in America, Letters at 3 A.M. is just the thing. In my eyes, it is one of the top five books I have ever read.

Brilliant writing & breathtaking honesty.......1998-07-02

Over a decade ago, a friend in LA mailed me an LA Weekely column called Letters at 2 AM about a man partaking in a ritual with friends and I'd never forgotten it. When I stumbled across a book by the same title as the article at the library, and realized it was the same author, I rejoiced. (Yes, reprint this book! I want my own copy!) I skipped the first part of the book, essays on current (now past) events, in favor of the last part of the book, more personal essays on alcohol, ritual, syncronicity, friendship, relationships, and other things that our minds - well, mine anyway - contemplate at 2 AM but don't have words for, let alone articulate so beautifully. I was moved and inspired by his unflinchingly honest reportage on his life.

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An inside view of two brilliant minds
Archetypal splitting
A fight of Titans for primacy in the field of Psychanalisys.

The Freud/Jung Letters
Sigmund Freud , and C. G. Jung
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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C.G. Jung Psychological Reflections : An Anthology of His Writings, 1905-1961
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ASIN: 0691036438

Book Description

This abridged edition makes the Freud/Jung correspondence accessible to a general readership at a time of renewed critical and historical reevaluation of the documentary roots of modern psychoanalysis. This edition reproduces William McGuire's definitive introduction, but does not contain the critical apparatus of the original edition.

Customer Reviews:

An inside view of two brilliant minds.......2007-05-12

I loved this book mostly because I have been fascinated by Freud for many years and now I am studying Jung. To have the privilege of reading their letter back and forth is a treat. Also there are insights into current problems that Psychology still grapples over.

Archetypal splitting.......2006-06-06

This is an amazing collection of letters which depict the relationship of two of the greatest psychologists of all time. Naturally, there are people who interpret this relationship in different ways, especially as a very specific situation, peculiar to the development of psychology or otherwise. I think otherwise. Life is rarely linear--it's usually Normally Distributed. Things tend to go in cycles, not straight lines. The relationship between Freud the mentor & Jung the mentee is just not that unusual. In fact, it parallels that of every child (especially males stereotypically seeking independence). There comes a time to leave the nest & for the mentee to strike out on his own--just as there is a time for a new paradigm (per Thomas Kuhn's classic, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"). This is precisely what occurred between Freud & Jung. It's almost archetypal. There's even something of a parallel between Jung & Father Victor White in Jung's "Letters." This book has some interesting quotes from each of the two psychologists:

By Freud:
p. 119 Take my urgent advice, arm yourself with ill temper against all unreasonable demands.
p. 121 One must try to learn something from every experience.
p. 169 I have long known that one can't change people. Everyone has something worthwhile in him. We must content ourselves with getting it out of him.

By Jung:
p. 84 What people don't know surpasses the imagination, and what they don't want to know is simply unbelievable.
p. 157 one likes human beings around one and not complex-masks.

And, very apropos: p. 462 Emma Jung: it is always the nearest thing that one sees worst.

A fight of Titans for primacy in the field of Psychanalisys........2003-04-23

This is a sad book to read. In fact, one would not expect that such a type of bad development would occur between the two most important figures of psychoanalisys. It is as if Marx and Engels had broken their friendship for life and began to fight for fame and glory in front of everybody. The spoil was huge: nothing more than the primacy for fame and glory in the first steps of psychanalisys.

Sure, the letters span a pretty much limited space of time of no more than 8 years (1906-1914) but the reader has to keep in mind that what was at stake was the establishing of the foundations of psychoanalisys all over Europe and also in the whole World.
What began as a cordial friendship and evolved into an almost father (Freud) to son (Jung) relationship, deteriorated into the most depressive fighting of personal primacy on many subjects. In this regard, it seems that the feud was initiated by Freud who considered Jung a type of his personal assistant to market the developments of his findings
THe fact that this is a abridged edition does not mean nothing except that here the common reader will find the most important material exchanged by the two great men and will be saved from some meaningless material of more burocratical tone.
Also of value is the introduction that ilustrates all the effort made by the two family sides to publish the letters, in spite the view by Jung that the ideal time for them to be published would be 20 to 30 years after his death.

Book Description

Jacques Lacan's seminar on "The Purloined Letter" at once challenged literary theorists and revealed a radically new conception of psychoanalysis. His far-reaching claims about language and truth provoked a vigorous critique by Jacques Derrida, whose essay in turn has spawned further responses from Barbara Johnson, Jane Gallop, Irene Harvey, Norman Holland, and others.

Customer Reviews:

That dingbat!.......2006-01-22

No, I don't think that person filed the wrong review; they're from Miami, Florida, that pretty much explains it

Rsponse to the above review.......1999-11-27

Although I have not finished the book yet, I needed to respond to the other reviewer who wrote that this is not a good mystery. You dingbat! This is a work in philosophy and psychology, not fiction! If you don't even have the slightest clue regarding a text, do not review it!

This book had potential but I was not interested in it........1999-10-25

I repeat I am not a big fan of mystery novels but this one was not mysterious at all. Edgar Allen Poe left out the suspenseful feeling that every mystery should contain.

Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932-1958

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Atom and Archetype: The Pauli/Jung Letters, 1932-1958
C. G. Jung , and Wolfgang Pauli
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Bible and the Psyche: Individuation Symbolism in the Old Testament (Studies in Jungian Psychology No. 24)

ASIN: 0691012075

Book Description

In 1932, Wolfgang Pauli was a world-renowned physicist and had already done the work that would win him the 1945 Nobel Prize. He was also in pain. His mother had poisoned herself after his father's involvement in an affair. Emerging from a brief marriage with a cabaret performer, Pauli drank heavily, quarreled frequently and sometimes publicly, and was disturbed by powerful dreams. He turned for help to C. G. Jung, setting a standing appointment for Mondays at noon. Thus bloomed an extraordinary intellectual conjunction not just between a physicist and a psychologist but between physics and psychology. Eighty letters, written over twenty-six years, record that friendship. This artful translation presents them in English for the first time.

Though Jung never analyzed Pauli formally, he interpreted more than 400 of his dreams--work that bore fruit later in Psychology and Alchemy and The Analysis of Dreams. As their acquaintance developed, Jung and Pauli exchanged views on the content of their work and the ideas of the day. They discussed the nature of dreams and their relation to reality, finding surprising common ground between depth psychology and quantum physics. Their collaboration resulted in the combined publication of Jung's treatise on synchronicity and Pauli's essay on archetypal ideas influencing Kepler's writings in The Interpretation of Nature and the Psyche. Over time, their correspondence shaped and reshaped their understanding of the principle they called synchronicity, a term Jung had suggested earlier.

Through the association of these two pioneering thinkers, developments in physics profoundly influenced the evolution of Jungian psychology. And many of Jung's abiding themes shaped how Pauli--and, through him, other physicists--understood the physical world. Of clear appeal to historians of science and anyone investigating the life and work of Pauli or Jung, this portrait of an incredible friendship will also draw readers interested in human creativity as well as those who merely like to be present when great minds meet.

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For All Ages and for All Time

Old Age
Helen M. Luke
Manufacturer: Morning Light Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On : The Autobiography and Journals of Helen M. Luke
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The Laughter at the Heart of Things
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Kaleidoscope: The Way of Woman and Other Essays

Accessories:

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer
Health o Meter HDC100-01 "Grow with Me" Teddy Bear Scale for Babies and Toddlers
RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device
Philips HeartStart Home Defibrillator (AED)

ASIN: 0930407059
Release Date: 1988-03-01

Book Description

In this classic text on aging wisely, the renowned Jungian analyst Helen M. Luke reflects on the final journeys described in Homer’s Odyssey, Shakespeare’s King Lear and The Tempest, and T. S. Eliot’s Little Gidding, and also on suffering. In examining some of the great masterpieces of literature produced by writers at the ends of their lives, she elucidates the difference between growing old and disintegrating and encourages us to grow emotionally and mentally in this culminating stage of our own lives.

Customer Reviews:

For All Ages and for All Time.......2001-06-25

Like her former partner Robert A. Johnson, Helen Luke is a master of rendering the psychological meanings in great literature understandable and relevant to all people wishing to gain a deeper level of understanding about the growtn of the human soul. Having plumbed the depths of her own psycho-spiritual aging process(Such Stuff As Dreams are Made On), Ms. Luke has created a work fusing literary scholarship and personal experience into a guide for all of us to follow towards the inevitable. When the time comes for me to plant my oar (read her interpretation of The Odyssey)and turn towards the life of prayer, song and storytelling I will be eternally grateful to have had this wonderful Wise Woman as my guide. Deserving of a wide readership.

The Jung-White Letters (Philemon Series)

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As Gripping As A Novel
Discussions between a psychologist and a theologian

The Jung-White Letters (Philemon Series)

Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1583911944

Book Description

The Jung-White Letters charts fifteen years of correspondence between C.G. Jung and Victor White, an English Dominican priest and theologian. The dialogue between the two provides valuable insights into the development of Jung's thought, and the relationship between psychology and religion.

Jung hoped that his correspondence with White would help him to reinterpret the classic Christian symbols and White sought Jung's support of his project to integrate analytical psychology into Catholic theology. Although both Jung and White were committed to a productive collaboration, the letters trace a trajectory toward a crisis of misunderstanding and betrayal, culminating in a sharpening of disagreements after publication of Jung's Answer to Job.

The letters are presented with great attention to authenticity, and Jung's previously published letters have been restored to their original style. The text is helpfully annotated throughout with historical, literary and personal references. A wealth of editorial material is also included to set the letters in context, including an authoritative memoir of Victor White.

Jung's engagement with White was an essential dialogue that contributed importantly to his late writings, forcing him to refine his critique of classical theology. This volume will be of great interest to all Jungian analysts, psychoanalysts and psychotherapists and anyone interested in investigating the complex relationship between analytical psychology and religion.

Customer Reviews:

As Gripping As A Novel.......2007-07-17

This book will probably appeal to a much wider audience than is normal for the writings of C.G.Jung. It is the real-life story, seen through their exchange of letters, of two men whose characters prevented them from realising the full potential of their relationship. It is a story of friendship, misunderstanding, betrayal and the struggle between fulfilling a public role and personal belief.

The Jung-White Letters (JWL) contains almost all the letters exchanged between Jung and White, in sequence. It is a complete conversation, rather than the one-sided discourse in C.G. Jung Letters, as it includes 75 letters from White to Jung, an additional 16 letters previously unpublished by Jung to White, and 30 or so letters exchanged with associates.

This book is most unlike other of C.G. Jung's writings. Whilst there is some deep debate in this book, it reads more like a novel. There are two central characters, with others playing small but important cameo roles, and there are plots and sub-plots.

The main story line revolves around the developing relationship between two intellectual giants: from the polite and formal introduction it blossoms into a great friendship, but then deteriorates rapidly. For Victor White, the story is one of wrestling between, on the one hand, what he is required to teach and affirm as a Catholic Priest and, on the other, what through his personal reflection and Jungian psychology he has come to understand is the truth. For Carl Jung, initially there is great satisfaction in finding someone who is able to interact with him on the same intellectual plane and who understands the real relevance of analytical psychology for the Church. However, as the relationship deteriorates it seems that Jung feels betrayed and even starts to question himself ("I.. with all my experience of nearly eight decades must admit that I have found no rounded answer to myself").

This book can be read on many levels. There are some letters that provide further clarification or insight into Jung's writings. There is philosophical debate on the nature of good and evil. But what makes the book most entertaining is the conflict of characters, as they wrestle with each other's and their own flaws. As such, it is a gripping read.

Discussions between a psychologist and a theologian.......2005-11-29

Pre-publish description:
This book, being partially funded by the Philemon Foundation, edited publication of the correspondances of C.G. Jung and the English Dominican priest Fr. Victor White. The fully annotated work will illuminate the development of Jung's views on Christian symbolism and doctrine through the exchange which was made between these two friends. Though their friendship, like the one between Freud and Jung, would eventually unravel because of their philosophical differences, which would culminate in Jung's Aion (1951) and Answer to Job (1952). Unlike the Freud-Jung story however, some amount of reconciliation would be found just before White's death, which occured a year prior to Jung's. The book should give some interesting new insight on how Jung's perception of the religious experience differs from the mainstream. Edited by Dr. Ann C. Lammers, and assisted by Dr. Murray Stein and Adrian Cunningham.

The Philemon Foundation is an organization dedicated to the eventual publication of Jung's Complete Works, which will include multiple volumes of unpublished writings, lectures, and other works. It has been conservatively estimated that the Foundation will publish 30 volumes beyond the 20 volumes comprised in the Collected Works. Furthermore, the Foundation will comission a new translation of the Collected Works once the newer publications are completed.

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A History of Psychology in Letters
Ludy T., Jr. Benjamin
Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1405126124

Book Description

The private thoughts, emotions, hopes, and frustrations contained in this collection of letters written by key figures in psychology provide rich insight into the development of the field. From John Locke writing parenting advice in seventeenth century Holland to Kenneth B. Clark responding to the impact of his research on the nineteenth century Brown v. Board decision, this book illustrates the history of the psychology in a direct, engaging manner.Using primary source materials such as letters and journal entries, Ludy Benjamin, one of the leading historians in the field, provides students with a unique view of the story of psychology. The first chapter features an introduction to historiography, focusing on how historians use manuscript collections in their work.The fifteen chapters of letters include chapter-opening material that explains the historical context, brief annotations to help clarify the content of the letters, and an epilogue that concludes these important stories in psychology.This new edition adds more insightful annotations by Dr. Benjamin, giving greater life and dimension to the learning about the people and ideas that have influenced the development of psychology.

Walking by Faith: The Diary of Angelina Grimke, 1828-1835 (Women's Diaries and Letters of the South)

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Walking by Faith: The Diary of Angelina Grimke, 1828-1835 (Women's Diaries and Letters of the South)
Angelina Emily Grimke
Manufacturer: University of South Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1570035113

Book Description

The diary that Angelina Grimké (1805-1879) kept from 1828 through 1835 offers a window into the spiritual struggles and personal evolution of a woman who would become one of the nation's most fervent abolitionists. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, and an heir to a family enterprise dependent on slave labor, Grimké was an unlikely supporter of emancipation. Only after years of inner turmoil did she leave the South to join her sister Sarah in the crusade against slavery. While Grimké's public persona has been widely studied, the private spiritual and intellectual journey that preceded her public career and pushed her to the forefront of the abolitionist movement is chronicled for the first time in Walking by Faith.

When Grimké began this diary in January 1828, uncertainty about her place in the world and her life's work occupied her thoughts. For the next seven years she recorded her most intimate concerns. Her diary entries follow her shift in religious affiliation from Episcopalian to Presbyterian to Quaker; her changing views on abolition; her conclusion that living as a Quaker in Charleston would be impossible; and her decision to establish an existence independent of her family. An excellent example of the confessional diary, usually associated with New Englanders, Grimké's writings offer a psychological and spiritual self-portrait that prefigures the image later seen by the world.

Book Description

“Envisioned as a response to Robert Schenkkan's 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Kentucky Cycle, the book's editors hoped to directly confront what they viewed as the play's unfair characterizations of Appalachians. . . . In that goal, the book succeeds and exceeds. Rather than just a knee-jerk reaction to Schenkkan's play, the book's 21 essays instead tackle a century's worth of stereotypes. . . . An additional benefit is that it also lends its readers a sense of Appalachian pride which all too often seems nonexistent today.”—The Paintsville (KY) Herald

Customer Reviews:

Trying to Debunk the last "PC" Prejudice.......2003-10-24

Having lived in the Northeast and Upper Midwest for most of my adult life, it was with some trepidation that I accepted a position as a doc at a Southern Appalachian hospital. To deal with my cognitive dissonance, I purchased this book and was reassured. Now, after months of working and living in Appalachia, I can only agree: My anecdotal experiences support Backtalk from Appalachia. The region is populated, for the most part, with people with a refreshingly strong sense of home and place, and an appreciation for nature--imagine that! There are professional, blue collar, unemployed, and everything-in-between folks down here. The bell curve of IQs around here is normally distributed: The oft-repeated Deliverance nonsense has no place outside of the book and the film. So, if, like me, you have tired of the big cities with their congestion, pollution, and crime, come on out here for a visit. You might decide to stay.

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