Reading the Red Book

An evening of interpretation with author Sanford Drob and acting teacher Elizabeth Kemp to celebrate the publication of Dr. Drob’s Reading the Red Book: An Interpretive Guide to C. G. Jung’s Liber Novus

The long-awaited publication of C.G. Jung’s Red Book in October, 2009 was a signal event in the history of analytical psychology. Hailed as the most important work in Jung’s entire corpus, it is as enigmatic as it is profound. At the Rubin Museum, the Red Book was not only exhibited in public for the first time, but 32 Red Book Dialogues took place on stage with the likes of Alice Walker, David Byrne, and Adam Gopnik attempting to interpret the visual imagery in the book with the aid of Jungian analysts. Tonight we have the first chance to interpret the narrative and thematic content, which will point out The Red Book’s significance, not only for psychology but for the history of ideas.

Praise for Reading the Red Book

“An indispensable guide to the structure and function, the purpose and meaning of Jung’s hidden masterpiece: this lucid commentary will surely establish itself as the inevitable starting-point of Red Book interpretation for many years to come.”
— PAUL BISHOP, PH.D., PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW, AND AUTHOR OF READING GOETHE AT MIDLIFE
“An outstanding map to guide the reader through the labyrinth of associations, images, and thoughts contained in Jung’s Red Book.”
— JOHN HILL, M.A., SENIOR JUNGIAN TRAINING ANALYST, ZÜRICH, AND AUTHOR OF AT HOME IN THE WORLD: SOUNDS AND SYMMETRIES OF BELONGING
“In this essential companion to Jung’s Red Book, Drob tracks the path of Jung’s psychological wrestlings, placing those struggles within the broader tradition of philosophical, theological, and mystical thought. In this way the reader is privileged access to witness not only the astonishing raw, bloody, personal birthing of Jung’s ideas—but then also to be led into more tranquil areas for reflection. Drob’s comments as well as thematic groupings aid one in imagining those squirming offspring into realms with implications both practical as well as ideological. This book is clear, intelligent and helpful—truly a must read for those who dare cross the Red Book portal.”
— PAT BERRY, PH.D., PRESIDENT, INTER-REGIONAL SOCIETY OF JUNGIAN ANALYSTS, AND AUTHOR OF ECHO’S SUBTLE BODY: CONTRIBUTIONS TO AN ARCHETYPAL PSYCHOLOGY

About the Speakers

“The Character Dream Workshop is an intensive based on the transformation from actor into character. This process integrates the work of building a character with the work of dreams; and the imagery and symbols that help to build the powerful connection to the character. This is a glorious and in depth foray into the soul of the artist infused with the soul of the character. The workshop experience is one that creates a family of artists, bound together with brave hearts and fierce souls. It is joyous, amazing and one that helps the work itself to grow and evolve as it is created.” – Elizabeth Kemp
A longtime member of the Actors Studio, and the Board of Directors, Elizabeth Kemp has recently been appointed an Associate Artistic Director of the Actors Studio, with Ellen Burstyn as Artistic Director. As a teacher she has taught at the Actors Studio Drama School, a graduate program, since its inaugural year of 1995. She began incorporating dream work into her coaching, directing and acting in the early 1990s, after training at the C. G. Jung Institute in New York. The result is her Character Dream Workshop, which she does yearly in places including New York, Rome, Paris, Zurich and Berlin. “The results from working with dreams were extraordinary… In the Method, we revisit something we lived through. But there are still pockets in the unconscious or the psyche that have a residue of feelings, feelings that have not at all been expressed in life.”
Sanford Lewis Drob, Ph.D. is on the faculty of Fielding Graduate University. He holds doctorates in philosophy and clinical psychology and for many years served as Director of Psychological Assessment and Senior Forensic Psychologist at Bellevue Hospital in New York. Dr. Drob has a longstanding interest in the philosophy and psychology of Jewish Mysticism. Among his publications are Kabbalistic Metaphors: Jewish Mystical Themes in Ancient and Modern Thought, Kabbalah and Postmodernism: A Dialog, and his most recent book, Kabbalistic Visions: C.G. Jung and Jewish Mysticism. He is currently completing a study of the coincidence of opposites in philosophy, psychology and mysticism.