The Descent of the Soul and the Archaic

Paul Bishop is William Jacks Chair of Modern Languages in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Glasgow, UK. Terence Dawson is an independent scholar, following a career of teaching in the UK and Singapore. He has a special interest in the relation between literature, music, and the visual arts. Leslie Gardner is Director of the international literary agency Artellus Limited, based in London, UK. She is a founding member of the International Association of Jungian Studies and is currently a Fellow in the Department of Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex.

1. Introduction: Is the only way up? Part I: Katábasis in Greek and Latin Literature 2. Psycho-cosmic descent in ancient Greece: from abyss to self-containment 3. Katabasis in reverse: Heraclitus, the archaic, and the abyss 4. Virgil, epicureanism, and unseemly behaviour 5. The Neoplatonic katabasis of the soul to the world of the senses: Language as a tool for regaining self-consciousness 6. Acting out, science fiction and Lucian's True HistoryPart II: Katábasis, Goddesses, and Saints 7. Inanna's descent to the netherworld and analytical psychology: What has the mistress of all the lands done? 8. Katabasis in an ancient Indian myth: Savitri Encounters Yama 9. Katabasis in middle eastern female hagiography: a post-Jungian perspective Part III: Katábasis in Theory 10. Raising hell: Freud's katabatic metaphors in The Interpretation of Dreams 11. Orestes, Katabasis, and aggrieved masculine entitlement 12. Regression, Nekyia, and involution in the thought of Jung and Deleuze Epilogue Salon Noir