The Red Book: A Reader's Edition: Philemon

by C. G. Jung

Digital audiobook, 2020

Status

Available

Call number

150.1954

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Biography

Collection

Books

Publication

Echo Point Books & Media, LLC (2020)

Description

When Carl Jung embarked on an extended self-exploration, the result was "The Red Book," a large, illuminated volume he created between 1914 and 1930. However, only a handful of people have ever seen it. Now, in a complete facsimile and translation, it is available to scholars and the general public.

User reviews

LibraryThing member VisibleGhost

Wow! Just wow and wow again. Let me 'splain, Lucy. If you're looking for a book about Jung's life or his career, or his writing canon this isn't the book. It's a reproduction of his 'red book', a journal of words, calligraphy, illumination, and artwork, produced in the years 1914 to 1930. It weighs

ten pounds, has a list price of $195.00 US, is huge, and about as portable as an iron lung. It's gorgeous though. It's akin to a middle ages 'book of hours'. The first half is a wonderful digitally accurate scan of the work. There's a video on YouTube on how the book was made. The second half is an English translation of the work. Jung never finished The Red Book and left ambiguous instructions in his will on what should happen to it. Luckily for us, it's made its way to bookstores.

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LibraryThing member andrewcorser

This is a book to cherish and pore over and come back to again and again - the only problem is that it is so beautiful, you don't want to spoil it, and it is so physically substantial it needs a mediaeval lectern to read it on!

The mandalas are lovely.

Now to face the shadow!

LibraryThing member thatguynate

A truly monumental release. Written by Jung over the course of over a decade, painstakingly rewritten and annotated and revised throughout some of his most personal and critical years, the Red Book presents the dreams, visions, reflections and experiences that helped form some of Jung's most

important theories.

A gigantic tome with expert introduction and commentary by a world renowned Jungian scholar, this book was long held out of the public eye as it is the most personal, piercing look into the mind and soul of one of the most influential psychologists of all time. Beautifully compiled into a folio sized, illuminated manuscript style, the text is accompanied by Jung's own artwork, as he believed that representing, reproducing and pondering the symbols of his visions was paramount to understanding them and becoming the most developed he could.

Excellently translated and presented, this could well be one of if not the most influential books to be published in many, many years. A bit difficult to digest due to its complexity and the depth of the author's knowledge, the Red Book none the less is a critical work for anyone interested in understanding the depths of their mind, soul, and the collective psyche of humanity.

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LibraryThing member kheperu

Amazing. Visually captivating, mentally stimulating -- a must-have for any fascinated by Jung or the legacy of his thought. Yes, it has a hefty price tag. It is worth every penny and then some.

LibraryThing member brittneydufrene

I doubt I could do justice to this work in the way that a serious student of Jung's work could, but want to say it is magnificently produced, with Jung's original manuscript carefully reproduced, as well as an English translation and commentary providing historical and cultural context. The Red

Book demonstrates, in magnificent, poetic words, and breathtaking, unforgettable imagery, nothing less than the Process of Self-transformation, of Individuation.

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LibraryThing member vpfluke

This is quite a book that I was able to check out of the Levittown Library and able to peruse. This is a manuscript that Jung worked on from 1914 to 1930 setting down or, better yet, recreating his visions including much from his inner dream life. This facsimile is almost like a medieval manuscript

with many hand drawings, beautiful in color. The first letter of each chapter is illustrated. The first letter D shows a vision of quite village sitting by a lake, somewhat dominated by a church with a steeple. The D itself is in red and sits on top of the water. In the lower left of the red an an urn with flames bursting upwards -- out of the flames is a long serpent with a crowned head. Although the sky within the D is in daylight cloudy day, the sky above the letter D is dark, suggesting night, with a crescent moon not too far away from the crown on the snake's head. A guiding star exists on the upper right. The lower part of the picture seems to depict the strange plants and animals that one might find on an ocean floor.

I write this descirption to give you a sense of the first quarter of the first page of this book. The title in German for this beginning chapter is Der Weg des Komenden (The Way of What is to Come). But then there is a long quote from Isaiah (53:1-4) in Latin. And then Isaiah 9:6, John 1:14, Isaiah 35:1-8. On page two Jung starts his German text. Each sentence begins with a red letter and the whole volume is beautifully lettered.

There are larger illustrations throughout the book covering most if not all the page, and they are a treat to look at and try to understand. They have a quality of the Mandala to them. There is some Greek in the volume, some pieces of dialogue, as well as poetry. This is a book, huge as it is, to savou

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LibraryThing member librarianbryan

Yes, for us Carl Jung fans this book is the Grail, but really it is kind of a let down. Aesthetically this book is the revelation all of us hoped it would be. The paper, the typography, the reproductions are scrumptious. (Yes, I ate them.)

But there is a little bit of the presentation that leaves

me head scratching. There is sort of this "introduction to Carl Jung," section and I think to myself, why would anyone interested in this book need an introduction to Carl Jung? And let's be serious: this is Jung's dream journal. There's your content. I loved looking at the pictures. If you wanted something else you are barking up the wrong tree.

Speaking of the pictures, I was struck by similarity to Crowley & Harris' Thoth tarot deck. That tightly wound bear trap is where I am going to leave it.

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LibraryThing member mrea

The Red Book does a great job of telling a weird and interesting story without the use of words. We get a real sense of plot and character through the pictures.

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