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Title: Ring of Power: Symbols and Themes Love Vs. Power in Wagner's Ring Circle and in Us : A Jungian-Feminist Perspective (Jung on the Hudson Book Series) by Jean Shinoda Bolen ISBN: 0-89254-043-5 Publisher: Nicolas-Hays Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Donington redux, from a female point of view
Comment: While reading Donington's brilliant analysis of Wagner's Nibelungenring, I often feel that he has a blind spot for women's psychology and experiences. This is most evident in how all the female (as well as some male) characters are generally seen as mere aspects of the central, male psychology of Wotan. My question was, does this blindness come from Donnington, or from Wagner? To answer this question, I went looking for a woman's interpretation of the Ring, and I found Bolen's. In short, Bolen's book shows that Wagner's insight into female psychology goes further than what Donington reveals.
Bolen's background is in clinical psychology, and this colours her analysis. Where Donington sees the cast of the Ring as aspects of one single (male) psychology, Bolen sees it as a dysfunctional family ruled by a narcissistic patriarch. In a way she falls into a trap which is very similar to Donington's, as she reduces Wotan to a one-dimensional character whose relevance is only that of the guilty party in the dysfunction of the whole "family". However, the proof of the budding is whether her analysis rings true, and for me she does shed new light on this story that has been with me for a long time.
As an example I will mention what is perhaps the most difficult part of the story to understand at a psychological level, Siegfried's betrayal of Brunhilde. In Bolen's analysis, Siegfried, having been brought up by Mime, has never experienced love, but merely the pretense of love. When he meets Brunhilde, he is therefore unable to understand the depth of emotion that she has for him. While he benefits from her love, he does not understand the degree to which his commitment to her is expected and required, since the only other "love" he has experienced was that of Mime, which contained no commitment at all. This makes Siegfried able to betray.
She then compares Siegfried's encounter with the Gibichungs to that of a social climber, noting how Siegfried, like Gunther and Gutrune, stand to gain in social standing by their association. Surrounded by members of a higher social class, to which he want to gain entry, Siegfried now also has the incentive to betray Brunhilde, which he does. To me, this way of looking at the story is refreshingly different from Donington's, yet based on a similar psychological foundations, and in no way in conflict with it.
Bolen is not a long-time "Ring-head" (to use her own phrase), the book appears to have been written rather soon after a powerful first encounter with Wagner's work. For instance, she makes a point of Gunther attempting to avert Hagen's murder of Siegfried --- something that I don't believe is in Wagner's text, but which may have been done at the particular Ring production she happened to see. The analysis is based almost entirely on the story and the libretto (and on Donington as well), and makes few references to the music. She does not have Donington's complete mastery of the text, the music and Wagner's biography (including factual errors like saying that the Ring was written in four years). What she does bring is a feminist viewpoint, as well as many convincing examples of modern day situations that may produce similar dysfunctions to the once she sees in the Ring. Bolen's text does in no way replace Donningtons, but it makes a valuable companion to it, one that for me filled a gaping hole in that otherwise invaluable text. To me, this book opens up the parts of the Ring that is outside of my personal experience as a man, and I would imagine it might also be a good point of entry for women into the world of the Ring.
Rating: 1
Summary: A simplistic interpretation, at best
Comment: This is the kind of book which would have some appeal to devotees of the typical 'feminist spirituality'. Unfortunately, her appeals to the 'ancient matriarchy' are ahistorical, and her analysis of the Ring itself simple. A book does not need to be intensely musical, but the opera itself is rather neglected. The story can be made to fit into the Jungian paradigm, but only by a very selective reading of the poetry, which neglects the richness of the Ring. If you have to go Jungian, go with Donington. Better yet, go with Deryck Cooke for an introduction.
Rating: 5
Summary: Jung, Women & Wagner: A Powerful Trio
Comment: I won't launch into an academic review or a precise of the story. Suffice to say that this is a wonderful book. For 30 - something women, particularly who identify with a patriarchal 'Wotan' figure and his defiant daughter (Brunnhilde) who forsakes wealth and power for love, this is a journey with which you will be familiar. And a wonderfully warm insight into what can be acheived by such women should they take some risks and act from their hearts! Many books have been written on the suppression of the feminine in society but this multi faceted gem allows a glimpse of so many layers of understanding in such an accessible way that it is irresistible. A peek at Carl Jung, an introduction to the genius of Wagner, the insights of the mythologies and the interpretation and storytelling genius of Jean Shinoda Bolen. If nothing else, this book is good value! So much in one package - a rare find these days indeed!
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Title: Crossing to Avalon: A Woman's Midlife Pilgrimage by Jean Shinoda Bolen ISBN: 0062502727 Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Goddesses in Everywoman: A New Psychology of Women by Jean Shinoda Bolen ISBN: 006091291X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 August, 1985 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Tao of Psychology : Synchronicity and Self by Jean Shinoda Bolen ISBN: 0062500813 Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 June, 1982 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Gods In Everyman Reissue : Archetypes That Shape Men's Lives by Jean Shinoda Bolen ISBN: 0060972807 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 11 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Goddesses in Older Women: Archetypes in Women Over Fifty by Jean Shinoda Bolen ISBN: 0060929235 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 16 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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