Tommaso Priviero | University College London (original) (raw)

Uploads

Books by Tommaso Priviero

This book explores the genesis of the Red Book (or Liber Novus), through the lens of Jung’s lifel... more This book explores the genesis of the Red Book (or Liber Novus), through the lens of Jung’s lifelong confrontation with Dante and, in doing so, provides the first-ever thorough comparative analysis of the intertextual and symbolical correspondences between Liber Novus and the Commedia.

Starting from Jung’s multifaceted fascination with Dante and his pivotal role in the former’s visionary material at historical, hermeneutical, and psychological levels, the book challengingly envisions Liber Novus as Jung’s Divine Comedy. This work finds a new way of approaching Jung’s understanding of concepts such as "visionary works" and "visionary mind" and considers how this approach can enhance our vision of depth psychology. Through various thematics such as the metanoia and the symbolism of animals, as well as the transformative role of the feminine and the erotic and spiritual imagery of the soul, this work revolves around the Jung-Dante correlation.

Offering an original perspective within the field of Jungian and Dante scholarship, this book will be of great interest to academics and postgraduate students studying in the areas of Jung, Dante, analytical psychology, depth psychology, hermeneutics and Western esoteric currents and practices. The book will also appeal to Jungian analysts and psychoanalysts more broadly.

Starting from De rerum natura, III 998 verse imperium inanest nec datur umquam, and Canfora’s The... more Starting from De rerum natura, III 998 verse imperium inanest nec datur umquam, and Canfora’s The Nature of Power, this work intends to consider underlying similarities between the qualities of Lucretius’ imperium and its equivalent Potere ‘without a face’ challenged in Pasolini’s critical essays. Dealing with two strong unconventional poetics, I examined the different intellectual traits that similarly actuate the natural airesis of the poet’s relationship with power. Concerning Lucretius, namely, I considered the transition in book III and the Eros theory in book IV, mainly referring to Boyancé, Brown, Giancotti and Landolfi. As to Pasolini, I examined above all the articles collected in his Scritti corsari (Pirate writings) and the Lettere luterane (Lutheran letters), as well as the critical commentary on Salò. Upon the disputed definition of poetic anticonformism, I undertook to merge the literary analysis of the texts, with the investigation of a shared psychological perspective— the anarchic temperament.

Talks by Tommaso Priviero

Papers by Tommaso Priviero

Approximately nine years have passed since the publication of Jung’s Liber Novus [New Book]. This... more Approximately nine years have passed since the publication of Jung’s Liber Novus [New Book]. This event has dramatically changed the study of Jung’s life and work, setting forth an exceptional number of paths to explore within the history of Jung’s thought. Many of these have not been undertaken yet and call for fresh research. Jung’s inspiring understanding of Dante’s Commedia, embedded within Jung’s in-depth fascination for the Middle Ages in Liber Novus is certainly one of these. This paper represents a first effort to delineate how Jung’s approach to Dante has been crucial to the elaboration of Liber Novus at historical and hermeneutical levels.

In this paper, I intend to explore the roots of Jung's psychological elaboration of the ancient n... more In this paper, I intend to explore the roots of Jung's psychological elaboration of the ancient notion of active imagination. The reval-orisation of a creative and healing function of imagination was central throughout Jung's life and work. In the first place, it was crucial in Jung's visionary experiment known as Liber Novus [New Book]. Later, it played a primary role in the progressive adaptation of active imagination as a therapeutic tool in analytical psychology. At the same time, an increasing interest in the creative faculties of imagination was in the early decades of the twentieth century the object of a cultural, cross-disciplinary discussion which affected the intersection between psychology and terrains such as art and literature. In this paper, I aim to offer a brief survey of the way in which Jung's reflection on the nature of imagination was underpinned by the experimental lines of such cultural moment.

Book Reviews by Tommaso Priviero

W e do not yet have a history of the imagination in psychotherapy in the twentieth century, nor e... more W e do not yet have a history of the imagination in psychotherapy in the twentieth century, nor even a history of the ways in which the imagination was used by Jungians, let alone by other kinds of therapists. So for that reason alone, this book is a welcome addition to the literature, and will certainly be useful reading for anyone who attempts such a history in the future. Couple with that the fact that this is (to my knowledge at least) the first account of Robert Desoille's waking dream therapy (rêve éveillé dirigé, henceforth RED) in English and you certainly have a pretty interesting start. Cassar divides his work into three parts, themselves divided into several chapters. Part 1 looks at Jung's understanding of active imagination, Desoille's RED and at the subsequent theoretical & practical developments of these two techniques in Jungian and Desoillian (or post-Desoillian) traditions. The second part (called 'Jung and Desoille-A Historical Investigation') looks, rather briefly, at some of Jung and Desoille's shared intellectual context (e.g. Pierre Janet, psychical research) and also outlines the work of some figures that both Jung and Desoille encountered at some point in their lives, some of them psychotherapists, but not all, such as Charles Baudouin, Roberto Assagioli and Mircea Eliade. Part 3 is concerned with more closely comparing the two techniques of RED and active imagination, examining topics such as the body, the use of verbal stimuli in RED vs. the non-directiveness of Jungian active imagination, transference and counter-transference, or interpretation. Many things could be said about this rich account. On the positive side, it is clear that Laner Cassar is intimately familiar with Desoille's work and with all the developments that have happened among his (primarily French) disciples since his death in 1966. His chart of the development of post-Desoillian groups is an excellent tool for anyone trying to make sense of the history of these little groups,

he successful publication of The Red Book (2009) has marked an important change in the history of... more he successful publication of The Red Book (2009) has marked an important change in the history of C.G. Jung. Not only has this colossal book upended our understanding of Jung-expanding the horizon of scholarly research on Jung and visual works-but it has also permanently shifted the perspective in Jung History. Indeed, after The Red Book, it has become impossible to conduct an investigation into depth psychology, without considering Jungʼs engagement with art. Even more importantly, Jungʼs own images and pictures have become increasingly relevant to Jung studies. The Art of C.G. Jung (2019), edited by the Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung, is the first extensive work to include both a collection of essays on Jung and art, and a gallery of archival images of Jungʼs own visual production. For this reason, The Art of C.G. Jung is bound to become required reading for present and future generations of Jung scholars. As the president of the Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung, Daniel Niehus, writes in the foreword, Jungʼs artwork presents unique features, some of which display ʻsimilarities to the development in modern art of the early twentieth centuryʼ (7). Such features are all present in the emblematic illustrations from Liber Novus, chosen for the front and back covers of the book. The first essay of the collection, ʻImages from the Unconscious. An Introduction to the Visual Works of C.G. Jungʼ by Ulrich Hoerni, serves as an introduction for the rest of the book. As reported by Hoerni, the ʻfirst, albeit incomplete overview of [Jungʼs] creative workʼ happened during the biographical exhibition organised by the City of Zurich in the Helmhaus for the one hundredth anniversary of Jungʼs birthday, when paintings by Jung, facsimiles of Liber Novus and photographs of stone carvings were displayed (11). Even though one had to wait until 1993 for an inventory of Jungʼs creative work to be compiled, a certain interest in Jungʼs relationship with visual arts had already been spreading since the publication of Memories, Dreams, Reflections.

He who seeks shall find, but only after he has surrendered his being to the guidance of the gods.