Melville's Moby Dick - An American Nekyia: An American Nekyia (Studies in Jungian Psychology By Jungian Analysts)

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Summary: Great American analyst meets great American novelist
Review: Dr. Edward Edinger--who only recently departed this earthly existence--was one of the most prominent and gifted Jungian analysts in America. In this brilliant little jewel of a book, he analyzes Herman Melville and the collective American psyche. Melville's own personal "nekyia" or night sea journey into the underworld or unconscious during midlife is divined and revealed to us by Edinger in a most readable and fascinating fashion. Much more than a rollicking sea-faring adventure yarn, Melville's masterpiece, Moby-Dick, is a psychological treasure trove. Captain Ahab, notes Edinger, "is a study in the psychology of resentment. . . . His image serves as a mirror, showing the true nature of our own resentments. Everyone has this problem, his inner Ahab. . . ." Ahab's immoderate rage reflects the existential anger in each of us, the dangers of being possessed by bitterness, and the rage lying just below the shining surface of Ame! rican culture, in the dark oceanic depths--a violent rage which recently has been raising its ugly head with mounting ferocity. Melville's immortal denizen of the deep embodies the devils and demons--the daimonic-- with which we each must grapple, and Edinger's elucidation of the material (personal and archetypal) Melville constructively confronted and creatively came to terms with through his writing is encouraging, inspirational and completely masterful.

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Summary: Illuminates both Jung and Melville
Review: Edinger says upfront that his goal is to illuminate both Moby Dick and Jungian theory, in effect using them to throw light on each other. The fit between Melville's characters and Jungian character types and archetypes is clear and clean, never forced. Generous quotes from the novel illustrate Edinger's points.

Edinger references page numbers from the Penquin Classics edition of Moby Dick. Having that version in hand makes it very easy to flip to the source material and test your agreement with his interpretations.

Rating:
Summary: stunningly insightful
Review: MOBY DICK has long needed a depth-psych interpretation that could do it full justice, and Edinger provides it. As with most of his other books, I wish this one had been longer, so much compact wisdom does it contain. Look out for his image of Leviathan as collective "stuff" needing cooking in the fires of consciousness--awesome.

At the same time, as you read be aware that as a symbol, Moby Dick cannot be pinned down to anything in particular, even the Self, which is Edinger's interpretation. The white whale works on many different levels. One of them might be this: the whale as a symbol of the natural world attacked and dismembered by Ahab, that seaborne paradigm of the modern captain of industry.