Editorial:
Reflections on the first Volume of Jung: the e-Journal
 

Archetypal Literary Theory in the Postmodern Era
Darrell Dobson
University of Toronto, Canada

I propose that differentiating the archetype and the archetypal image provides a means of responding to some postmodern critiques of archetypal theory. I consider the literary theories of Northrop Frye and a postmodern feminist critique of his work.  I hypothesize that a more fully Jungian perspective on archetypal theory provides a means of responding to the critiques levelled at Frye.  This analysis hopes to contribute to positioning archetypal theory in such a manner as to allow it to remain cogent and relevant in light of postmodern critiques, and to do so without marginalizing or ignoring postmodern theoretical insights. 

Educating the Creative Imagination: A Course Design and its Consequences
Austin Clarkson
York University, Toronto, Canada

The description of the curriculum of a university course designed to engage the deep structure of the creative process. First presented in 1984, the course has been given to fine arts majors and candidates for the B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees. The curriculum is summarized in twelve concepts and then described under the topics  “Primordial Images,” “Personality Type and Creativeness,” “The Cycle of the Creative Process,” “Enter the Masks,” and “The Ritual Process and Community.” The responses of students indicate that the course filled a deeply felt need for learning the language of mythos. The consequences included the formation of an ongoing community that has stayed together for ten years, gives public shows of artwork, and provides workshops on creativity to school children and adults. 

Surveying the Psyche: A Jungian Reading of Wilson Harris’ The Guyana Quartet
Kathryn Berthelson
University of Edinburgh, Scotland 

The Guyanese novelist, poet and essayist, Wilson Harris is widely regarded as a key contributor to the postcolonial dialogue. However, Harris stands apart in that he is less concerned with conventional notions of cultural identity, and instead explores issues of postcolonial identity through encounters with the human psyche. Indeed, Harris’ writing takes on a profoundly psychological dimension when one considers it in relation to Jung’s seminal work with the collective unconscious, archetypes, and the restorative processes of alchemy and active imagination. In The Guyana Quartet, Wilson Harris uses Jungian thought to create a dream text that functions both as a map for identifying conflicting fragments of the Guyana psyche, and a mechanism for restoring these fragments to a state of unity. 

The Primitive in Othello:  A Post-Jungian Reading 
Matthew Fike
Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C., United States

Previous Jungian criticism of Othello overlooks the primitive, treats it as an obvious premise, or does not consider it in the context of Jung’s extensive and widely varied statements on the subject. This essay deepens the archetypal approach by discussing the play in terms of the primitive mentality that ultimately thwarts Othello’s individuation. When Jung’s racist rhetoric is subjected to postcolonial critique, what emerges is the helpful concept of the psychologically archaic—areas of the psyche that are less conscious and less differentiated. A post-Jungian emphasis on the archaic then illuminates Desdemona’s attraction to the Moor; war, fetishism, and the supernatural; and the signifying process surrounding the handkerchief. In addition, Jung’s “four stages of eroticism” (feminine archetypes) enhance the significance of the sibyl, an archaic figure with civilizing influence. Shakespeare’s use of the primitive culminates in Othello’s final comparison of himself to two primitives (Indian and Turk), and he dies a broken man—aware that projection has caused his downfall.