Books by Marietje Kardaun
Fighting the Angel: Biblical and Mythical Encounters with Demons and Deities, 2011
As the Biblical patriarch Jacob, after twenty years of exile, is about to cross the river that se... more As the Biblical patriarch Jacob, after twenty years of exile, is about to cross the river that separates him from home, he gets into a nocturnal fight with a supernatural figure, traditionally referred to as ‘the angel’. As a result of the wrestling match Jacob is injured, however he also receives a blessing and a new name: from now on he is called Israel.
The present study proposes a Jungian reading of this famous episode in Genesis. The focus is on the intriguing identity of Jacob’s enigmatic adversary: who or what is that figure on the riverside and what does he want from Jacob? In order to clarify this matter, parallels from other mythological tales are discussed. It will be shown that Jacob is by no means the only character in world mythology to get into a conflict with a demon or deity, even though Jacob’s attitude towards unwilling divine powers is rather special. Reading like a detective story, the book takes us on a journey that slowly but steadily unlocks the true nature of Jacob’s mysterious opponent. The surprising outcome adds to our understanding of the figure of Jacob-Israel. Moreover, it makes us aware of a number of hitherto overlooked characteristics that modern Western society inherited from its Judaeo-Christian past.
The Winged Chariot, 2000
This volume delves into significant chapters of Platonic philosophy, encompassing its pre-Socrati... more This volume delves into significant chapters of Platonic philosophy, encompassing its pre-Socratic origins and subsequent developments. It particularly focuses on the relationship between Plato's logico-semantics and his metaphysics. Plato's linguistic views are deeply rooted in his metaphysical system, and vice versa. The strong connection between the two and their development into the Middle Ages form a major subject of this volume. Other themes explored in this book include Plato's philosophy of nature, his epistemology, theology, cosmology, conception of the soul, and, finally, his philosophy of art.
Der Mimesisbegriff in der griechischen Antike, Amsterdam – New York – Oxford – Tokyo: North-Holland (= Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde, Nieuwe Reeks, deel 153), 1993
In this book a new, more precise, understanding of the meaning of the Greek word ‘mimesis’ is off... more In this book a new, more precise, understanding of the meaning of the Greek word ‘mimesis’ is offered. Too often ‘mimesis’ is still translated in the traditional manner as ‘imitation’. Consequently, some Greek texts are not fully understood. For example, it is unfounded to state that from the association of ‘art’ with ‘mimesis’, as was common in Antiquity, it follows that at that time works of art were generally held to be imitations of (the material, outward side of) reality. Particularly in order to understand Plato’s sophisticated discussions of art and artists in Rep. II/III and X it is necessary to first clear up the key notion ‘mimesis’. The book discusses many examples from the Greek, ranging roughly from 600 BCE to 100 CE, and contains a summary in English, French, and Dutch.
In October 2019 the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (https://www.knaw.nl/nl) kindly gave me permission to republish this peer reviewed book on Academia.edu.
For a more extensive English summary of the content of this publication, see The Winged Chariot: Collected Essays on Plato & Platonism in Honour of L.M. de Rijk. Maria Kardaun & Joke Spruyt (eds.) Leiden – Boston – Köln: Brill 2000, pp. 137-143.
Petrons Satyricon. Eine psychoanalytische Untersuchung (PhD thesis University of Groningen, 219 pp.), 1993
The full text will follow shortly (in German)
Papers (English) by Marietje Kardaun
PsyArt, 2025
In the BBC World documentary Ancient Greek Heroes: Myth and Modern Vision (Bragard, 2004), the my... more In the BBC World documentary Ancient Greek Heroes: Myth and Modern Vision (Bragard, 2004), the mythical hero Jason is presented as a highly admirable role model. Not only does he overcome a fire-breathing dragon and obtain the legendary Golden Fleece, but the documentary also suggests that his journey provides him with profound insights into life in general and the opposite sex in particular. However, this optimistic portrayal of Jason’s character and achievements scarcely aligns with the depiction found in ancient Greek sources. With the help of Jungian psychology, we uncover an unexpected subtext in the original narrative while simultaneously highlighting the continuing relevance of this archetypal quest for our own time.
PsyArt, 2022
One of the most unlikely showdowns of world literature is the one between YHWH, creator of heaven... more One of the most unlikely showdowns of world literature is the one between YHWH, creator of heaven and earth, and his humble creature Job. The latter has lost his children, his possessions, and finally his health. He is covered with sore boils and, sitting among the ashes, he tries to cure his itch with a potsherd. His wife has advised him to “curse God and die”, his friends are accusing him of intolerable arrogance, and a mere stranger has started to hurl insults at him. In this situation, Job engages in an argument with YHWH about who is to be held responsible for the calamities that have befallen him: Job himself or YHWH? In a Jungian analysis of the text we will follow the dispute between creature and creator step by step, and designate a winner. Subsequently we will consider the question of what the story of Job might express in terms of early secularization.
Freely accessible via: https://psyart.org/article/gods-own-guinea-pig-the-book-of-job-and-secularization/
International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 2015
Gilgamesh and Enkidu: Beyond Death, 2015
The Beauty and the Sacred Nature of both Art and Myth It would be no exaggeration to say that con... more The Beauty and the Sacred Nature of both Art and Myth It would be no exaggeration to say that contemporary western culture is dominated by a scientific and economy-oriented worldview. In this worldview no-nonsense disciplines such as technology, medicine and economics are considered the only serious approach to reality. While it is true that we owe much of our prosperity and wealth to the uncompromising rationality and daring initiatives of the flourishing research and trade of today's globalized society, there is a downside: in our eagerness to gain control of the outside world we sometimes forget that perhaps the most important journeys are the ones to our inner selves.
PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, 2014
It is well known that in Plato’s utopian ideal state there is no room for free artistic expressio... more It is well known that in Plato’s utopian ideal state there is no room for free artistic expression: artists are mistrusted and art works heavily censored. Less known is that, once they are properly selected and purified, art works are particularly valued by Plato. However, Plato completely disapproves of a certain category of art, which he defines as ‘mimetic’. ‘Mimetic art’ is a priori disqualified by him as morally bad, misleading and dangerous. It is therefore categorically forbidden in the ideal state. In practice, Plato identifies ‘mimetic art’ chiefly with Greek tragedy. We will go into a Jungian explanation of why this is the case. I hope to show that psychologically speaking Plato’s ideal state is an unstable construction. It is built on the repression of unconscious powers that may erupt any time. Tragedy is threatening to this construction because it undermines the unrealistic Platonic conception of man as an autonomous, rational being.
Analyses of Cultural Productions: Papers of the 30th Conference of Psyart, 2014
One of the oldest novels to have ever been written is the Satyricon, a Latin fictional prose work... more One of the oldest novels to have ever been written is the Satyricon, a Latin fictional prose work from the 1st century CE, commonly attributed to Petronius Arbiter. The events in this ancient novel take place against the background of the multi-cultural society of the Julio-Claudian emperors. The work is written in the first person singular, and the narrator, a certain Encolpius, tells the reader about some at times erotic adventures that he and his pals have while traveling through Southern Italy. The paper will deal with the Satyricon as mirroring the late-Roman cultural horizon. This horizon will be contrasted with the world views that emerge from the Odyssey and the Aeneid. It will be shown that a distinct psychohistorical thread leads from Homer’s Ulysses and Virgil’s Aeneas to Petronius’ protagonist Encolpius.
PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, 2013
Beowulf, the Geatish hero who prominently features in the famous Anglo-Saxon poem of the same nam... more Beowulf, the Geatish hero who prominently features in the famous Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name, is one of the most successful and radical monster-slayers that world mythology has to offer. However, as he grows older, the hero's powers diminish and the poem ends with a sense of deep mourning and loss. With the help of comparative mythology I will try to shed some light on the nature of the successive forms of evil that Beowulf encounters. Secondly, I will contrast evil as it appears in the thousand year old epic poem Beowulf with some (post)modern ideas about evil that we find in Sturla Gunnarsson's 2005 movie Beowulf and Grendel.
PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, 2011
Far from being a recent invention, depth psychological thinking already features extensively in G... more Far from being a recent invention, depth psychological thinking already features extensively in Greek mythology, more specifically in the stage plays of the great Athenian tragedians of the fifth century BCE. In this pivotal century, large parts of Greek civilization had embarked on a process of rapid modernization, and the tragedians seem to have felt the need to give their artistic comments on these developments. Their (implicit) analysis of the human mind is depth psychological in all but name. The paper focuses on the Pre-Socratic world view in general, and on the tragic notion of hybris in particular. Finally it aims to show the underlying depth psychological structure of Aeschylus' Oresteia.
Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth International Conference on Literature and Psychoanalysis, 2010
The problems we come across when assessing the validity of depth psychological interpretations o... more The problems we come across when assessing the validity of depth psychological interpretations of literary works are huge. How do we know whether an interpretation is adequate to the text involved? Can we, by the same token, prove that certain interpretations are inadequate? If so, how? If not ─ that is to say, if any depth psychological interpretation is always supposed to be as good as any other ─, what is the intellectual status of exploring literary texts from a depth psychological perspective? Indeed, what are we looking for when we use that particular method of literary interpretation? The paper will deal with this type of questions on the basis of some telling examples.
PsyArt: An Online Journal for the Psychological Study of the Arts, 2010
The fairy tale or folk tale is the most widespread and possibly oldest form of literature: an unp... more The fairy tale or folk tale is the most widespread and possibly oldest form of literature: an unpretentious, dreamy type of story, without an identifiable author, recounting miraculous events that are set in some indefinite place and time. Simple as they may seem, fairy tales are not always easily accessible to a sophisticated audience. In our (post)modern times they have more or less disappeared from sight. ‘Enlightened’ minds in the past have tried to suppress them and have succeeded to the extent that fairy tales are looked upon, nowadays, as infantile material, appreciated only by the very young, or perhaps by the occasional romantic soul. In our modern, no-nonsense world of career management and clever marketing strategies, fairy tales do not count for much. Yet, fairy tales are valuable repositories of wisdom. Freud did not hesitate to analyze E.T.A. Hoffmann’s literary fairy tale Der Sandmann in order to illustrate his psychoanalytic theory of the uncanny. And Jung-oriented research tends to value fairy tales even more.
This article is freely available via: https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/kardaun-jung_and_the_fairy_tale_or_nosce_te_ipsu
Ambix. The Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, 2003
Ambix. The Journal of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry, 2001
Frederico Pereira (ed.) Literature and Psychoanalysis. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Literature and Psychoanalysis. Lisbon: Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, 1997
Groningen Colloquia on the Novel VII, 1996
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Books by Marietje Kardaun
The present study proposes a Jungian reading of this famous episode in Genesis. The focus is on the intriguing identity of Jacob’s enigmatic adversary: who or what is that figure on the riverside and what does he want from Jacob? In order to clarify this matter, parallels from other mythological tales are discussed. It will be shown that Jacob is by no means the only character in world mythology to get into a conflict with a demon or deity, even though Jacob’s attitude towards unwilling divine powers is rather special. Reading like a detective story, the book takes us on a journey that slowly but steadily unlocks the true nature of Jacob’s mysterious opponent. The surprising outcome adds to our understanding of the figure of Jacob-Israel. Moreover, it makes us aware of a number of hitherto overlooked characteristics that modern Western society inherited from its Judaeo-Christian past.
In October 2019 the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (https://www.knaw.nl/nl) kindly gave me permission to republish this peer reviewed book on Academia.edu.
For a more extensive English summary of the content of this publication, see The Winged Chariot: Collected Essays on Plato & Platonism in Honour of L.M. de Rijk. Maria Kardaun & Joke Spruyt (eds.) Leiden – Boston – Köln: Brill 2000, pp. 137-143.
Papers (English) by Marietje Kardaun
Freely accessible via: https://psyart.org/article/gods-own-guinea-pig-the-book-of-job-and-secularization/
This article is freely available via: https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/kardaun-jung_and_the_fairy_tale_or_nosce_te_ipsu
The present study proposes a Jungian reading of this famous episode in Genesis. The focus is on the intriguing identity of Jacob’s enigmatic adversary: who or what is that figure on the riverside and what does he want from Jacob? In order to clarify this matter, parallels from other mythological tales are discussed. It will be shown that Jacob is by no means the only character in world mythology to get into a conflict with a demon or deity, even though Jacob’s attitude towards unwilling divine powers is rather special. Reading like a detective story, the book takes us on a journey that slowly but steadily unlocks the true nature of Jacob’s mysterious opponent. The surprising outcome adds to our understanding of the figure of Jacob-Israel. Moreover, it makes us aware of a number of hitherto overlooked characteristics that modern Western society inherited from its Judaeo-Christian past.
In October 2019 the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (https://www.knaw.nl/nl) kindly gave me permission to republish this peer reviewed book on Academia.edu.
For a more extensive English summary of the content of this publication, see The Winged Chariot: Collected Essays on Plato & Platonism in Honour of L.M. de Rijk. Maria Kardaun & Joke Spruyt (eds.) Leiden – Boston – Köln: Brill 2000, pp. 137-143.
Freely accessible via: https://psyart.org/article/gods-own-guinea-pig-the-book-of-job-and-secularization/
This article is freely available via: https://psyartjournal.com/article/show/kardaun-jung_and_the_fairy_tale_or_nosce_te_ipsu