Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, Steven F. Walker considers the midlife transition from a Jungian and Eriksonian perspective, by providing vivid and powerful literary and cinematic examples that illustrate the psychological theories in a clear and entertaining way.
For C.G. Jung, midlife is a time for personal transformation, when the values of youth are replaced by a different set of values, and when the need to succeed in the world gives place to the desire to participate more in the culture of one's age and to further its development in all kinds of different ways. Erik Erikson saw generativity, an expanded concern for others beyond one''s immediate circle of family and friends, as the hallmark of this stage of life. Both psychologists saw it as a time for growth and renewal. Literary texts such Virginia Woolf''s Mrs Dalloway, Shakespeare''s Antony and Cleopatra, or Sophocles'' Oedipus the King, and films such as Fellini''s 8 and Campion''s The
Trade Review
"Midlife Transformation in Literature and Film is an interesting and highly informative read for anyone interested in Jungian perspectives on literature and cinema and for those studying or experiencing midlife transitions. Possibly part of its value goes beyond its emphasis on the psychological importance of myths to a thought-provoking challenge: that perhaps both personally and on a global scale, we need to enact new ones."- Wendy Cousins, PsycCRITIQUES, 2013, Vol. 58
Table of Contents
Introduction. Jung, Erikson, Midlife Transformation and the Oneiric Text. The Shadow and the Contrasexual Side at Midlife. Oedipus, Mentors and Male Midlife Transformation. Ariadne, Abandonment and Female Midlife Initiation. Homer's Odyssey and Midlife Transformation. Tragedy, Inflation and Midlife Transformation. Modernist Midlife Initiations: Marcel in Proust's Time Regained and Clarissa in Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Some Classical Hindu Perspectives on Midlife.
