KARL KERÉNYI (1897–1973)
Karl Kerényi was one of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology. He was a close friend and collaborator of C. G. Jung, who described him as having “supplied such a wealth of connections [of psychology] with Greek mythology that the cross-fertilization of the two branches of science can no longer be doubted.” In 1949, Jung and Kerényi published together Essays on the Science of Mythology. Among Kerényi’s many books are Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life; Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter; Apollo: The Wind, the Spirit, and the God; and Goddesses of Sun and Moon.
OEDIPUS VARIATIONS
Studies in Literature and Psychoanalysis
KARL KERÉNYI and JAMES HILLMAN
Third, revised edition 2022
Paperback original, 100 pages, $20
ISBN: 978-0-88214-990-5
Kindle/Apple Books, $9.99
ISBN: 978-0-88214-991-2
A deeper, richer portrait of Oedipus, the most famous figure in all of Greek tragedy and the (unconscious?!) hero of the basic myth of psychoanalysis by two giants in the fields of mythology and psychology: the eminent mythographer Karl Kerényi and the founder of archetypal psychology, James Hillman.
Kerényi widens the Oedipus myth’s cultural context by introducing unusual dramatic versions that played in Rome, Paris, Vienna, and London. His authoritative and detailed essays release wonderful insights for even the most casual reader.
Hillman takes on Father Freud and his Oedipus complex (i.e., every son wants to kill his father and marry his mother). He inverts the emphasis and asks, Why do fathers kill their sons? Hillman brilliantly proposes that the madness of Oedipus may lie less in his overt crimes than in his—and therapy’s—single-minded focus upon “figuring out” one’s true identity through a remembering of the past. This relentless search for Oedipus to “know himself” is still with us, still blinds us, still tries to turn people in therapy into Oedipus. Yet Hillman also shows us that, in addition to the curse, murder, incest, and disease, the myth of Oedipus contains beauty, blessing, love, and loyalty.
ATHENE
Virgin and Mother in Greek Religion
Translated and with a Postscript
by MURRAY STEIN
Newly revised 2008 printing
Paperback original, 104 pages, $20
ISBN: 978-0-88214-209-8
Kindle/Apple Books, $9.99
ISBN: 978-0-88214-046-9
Athene, the goddess who affects the fates of both women and men, unites the virginal father’s daughter and the encouraging mother of the spirit. Kerényi’s careful rendering of the many aspects of her mythos demonstrates a profound understanding of feminine intelligence both in its fierceness and it darker animal nature—especially apparent in the symbolism of owl, goat, horse, and Gorgon. The archetypal image of Athene provides a mythological background of communal and political consciousness, individuality, and the power of mind.
HERMES
Guide of Souls
With a Prefatory Note by MAGDA KERÉNYI
and a Preface by CHARLES BOER
Translated by MURRAY STEIN
Third, revised edition 2020
Paperback original, 112 pages, $20
ISBN: 978-0-88214-094-0
Kindle/Apple Books, $9.99
ISBN: 978-0-88214-047-6
Kerényi presents here a beautiful, authoritative study of the great god Hermes whom the Greeks revered as Guides of Souls. Chapters on Hermes and Night, Hermes and Eros, and Hermes and the goddesses illuminate the complex role of Hermes in classical mythology, while also providing an archetypal background for the guiding of souls in psychotherapy. A vital contribution both to the study of the classics and the therapy of the soul.