The Great Mother

by Erich Neumann

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This landmark book explores the Great Mother as a primordial image of the human psyche. Here the renowned analytical psychologist Erich Neumann draws on ritual, mythology, art, and records of dreams and fantasies to examine how this archetype has been outwardly expressed in many cultures and periods since prehistory. He shows how the feminine has been represented as goddess, monster, gate, pillar, tree, moon, sun, vessel, and every animal from snakes to birds. Neumann discerns a universal show more experience of the maternal as both nurturing and fearsome, an experience rooted in the dialectical relation of growing consciousness, symbolized by the child, to the unconscious and the unknown, symbolized by the Great Mother. Featuring a new foreword by Martin Liebscher, this Princeton Classics edition of The Great Mother introduces a new generation of readers to this profound and enduring work. show less

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This book explores the Great Mother as a primordial image of the human psyche. The analytical psychologist Erich Neumann draws on ritual, mythology, art, and records of dreams and fantasies to examine how this archetype has been outwardly expressed in many cultures and periods since prehistory. He shows how the feminine has been represented as goddess, monster, gate, pillar, tree, moon, sun, vessel, and every animal from snakes to birds. Neumann discerns a universal experience of the maternal as both nurturing and fearsome, an experience rooted in the dialectical relation of growing consciousness, symbolized by the child, to the unconscious and the unknown, symbolized by the Great Mother.
Neumann examines how the Feminine has been experienced and expressed in many cultures from prehistory to our own time. Appearing as goddess and demon, gate and pillar, garden and tree, hovering sky and containing vessel, the Feminine is seen as an essential factor in the dialectical relation of individual consciousness, symbolized by the child, to the ungraspable matrix, symbolized by the Great Mother. Source: Amazon
LOC data from 1955 Pantheon Books edition
DJ has many issues but book in VG cond. overall - possible HV
½

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39+ Works 2,218 Members
Erich Neumann (1905-1960). A Psychologist and Philosopher, was born in Berlin and Lived in Tel Aviv from 1934 until his death. His other books include The Fear of the Feminine, Amor and Psyche, and The Great Mother (All Princeton).

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Manheim, Ralph (Translator)
Vitolo, Antonio (Translator)

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Common Knowledge

Canonical title
The Great Mother
Original title
Die große Mutter
Alternate titles
The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype
Original publication date
1955
People/Characters
Guido Reni
Dedication
To C. G. Jung

FRIEND AND MASTER

IN HIS EIGHTIETH YEAR
First words
When analytical psychology speaks of the primordial image or archetype of the Great Mother, it is referring, not to any concrete image existing in space and time, but to an inward image at work in the human psyche.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)This archetypal psychical world which is encompassed in the multiple forms of the Great Goddess is the underlying power that even today—partly with the same symbols and in the same order of unfolding, partly in dynamic modulations and variations—determines the psychic history of modern man and of modern woman.
Original language
German

Classifications

Genres
Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Anthropology, General Nonfiction, Sexuality and Gender Studies, History
DDC/MDS
291.214ReligionOther religions[Formerly: General Religious Topics][formerly: Doctrines. Relocated to 202]Various Objects of Worship
LCC
BL85 .N4Philosophy, Psychology and ReligionReligions. Mythology. RationalismReligions. Mythology. RationalismReligions of the world
BISAC

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Popularity
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Reviews
4
Rating
(3.92)
Languages
5 — English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Media
Paper, Ebook
ISBNs
20
ASINs
14