Tag Archives: literature

Passionate Longing for Dialogue (1): Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Symbol Reader

I am starting a new series on my blog which will consist of conversations regarding books, films and potentially other soulful topics of interest. I am calling the series “Passionate Longing for Dialogue,” which is a quote from Martin Buber’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Soulful Dialogue | Tagged anima, archetypes, art, astrology, book, C.G. Jung, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki, depth psychology, Haruki Murakami, individuation, interpretation, literature, novel, review, symbolism, symbols | 9 Comments

Shadow Before Equinox

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Symbol Reader

1. “Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Quotations | Tagged archetypes, D.H. Lawrence, depth psychology, literature, Murakami, Pluto direct, poetry, Self, snake, symbols, transformation | 28 Comments

Like a Night Bird

Posted on August 26, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Utagawa Hiroshige, “Small Horned Owl on a Maple Branch under Full Moon” “The human heart is like a night bird. Silently waiting for something, and when the time comes, it flies straight toward it.” Hatuki Murakami, “Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged bird, Colourless, heart, literature, Murakami, Soul, symbolism, symbols, Tsukuru Tazaki | 10 Comments

Above and Below

Posted on August 15, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Full Moon in Venice, via https://www.behance.net/gallery/Full-Moon-in-Venice/11204365 “Andria was built so artfully that its every street follows a planet’s orbit, and the buildings and the places of community life repeat the order of the constellations and the position of the most luminous … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged city, correspondences, Invisible Cities Andria, Italo Calvino, literature, symbolism, symbols | 16 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (12): Freedom in the Bosom of the Waters

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Library on Nautilus An odyssey is a journey that never ends, so I had a suspicion I will return to my beloved subject sooner or later. I have received a note from the authors of Homer’s Secret Odyssey today, which truly made … Continue reading →

Posted in The Odyssey | Tagged archetypes, calendars, Captain Nemo, Florence and Kenneth Wood, Homer, Homer’s Secret Odyssey, Jules Verne, literature, myth, Odyssey, sea, space, symbolism, symbols | 18 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (11): Death of Odysseus, Master of Land Ways and Sea Ways

Posted on August 3, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Edward Dodwell, “Ithaca” Having emerged from the Cave of the Nymphs, while the Moon is still in its dark period and the Sun stands still at Winter Solstice, Odysseus hides away in the hut of a pig-keeper Eumaeus. As a … Continue reading →

Posted in The Odyssey | Tagged archetypes, C.G. Jung, epic poetry, Eumaeus, Greek myth, Gregory Nagy, hero, Homer, Homer’s Secret Odyssey, Kenneth and Florence Wod, literature, Odysseus, Odysseus’ death, Odyssey, pig farm, symbolism, symbols, universe, winnowing shovel | 15 Comments

Swann’s Dream

Posted on May 31, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“Sometimes, too, just as Eve was created from a rib of Adam, so a woman would come into existence while I was sleeping, conceived from some strain in the position of my limbs. Formed by the appetite that I was … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged anima, art, dream, Dreaming, Karl Briullov, literature, Marcel Proust | 14 Comments

Kafka’s Sirens

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“Now the Sirens have a still more fatal weapon than their song, namely their silence… someone might possibly have escaped from their singing; but from their silence, certainly never.” Franz Kafka Last year I posted my tribute to Franz Kafka … Continue reading →

Posted in Franz Kafka | Tagged Dora Diamant, Felice Bauer, Franz Kafka, Greta Bloch, Julie Wohryzek, Kafka's biography, literature, Max Brod, Milena Jesenska, Reiner Stach, women | 29 Comments

Bird Goddess

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“A girl stood before him in midstream, alone and still, gazing out to sea. She seemed like one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird. Her long slender bare legs were delicate as a … Continue reading →

Posted in Quotations | Tagged archetypes, bird, goddess, James Joyce, literature, myth, susan seddon boulet, symbolism, symbols | 7 Comments

The Secrets of the Odyssey (3): Calypso and Phaecians

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Symbol Reader

According to a well-known saying by Whitehead, all Western philosophy is a footnote to Plato. Philosophy may have begun with Plato but storytelling and literature began with minstrel poets such as Homer. Our cultural womb and cradle is ancient Greece; … Continue reading →