How to and why live an authentic life are the basic tenets of this new book by Dr. James Hollis, practicing Jungian analyst in Houston, Texas. This book with its emphasis on the unfulfilled self brings to mind other writers like Alice Miller, Robert Johnson, Scott Peck and Frederick Buechner as well as writings in the  Zen, Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions.  To be a bit more mundane, this book is most like learning to dance to the beat of a different drummer or taking that road less traveled.  It’s about listening to that drum whose beat may have been drowned out by the demands of ego building that served us well the years in creating families, careers, community esteem and respect from others.  After that is all done, the drummer keeps beating, especially if we have put him on mute.

Hollis refers to these soul stirrings as the gods within.  Note, gods spelled with a little “g” not to be confused with the grand Creator who made us all, he says. Eros is the life force, the great connector.  And demanding equal attention, is the god Logos, the divider, the individuator.  Seemingly opposites that must be harmonized to have an integrated personality.  Hollis tells how it is done and why it is imperative.  He uses his vast knowledge from years of Jungian psychiatry and countless patients as well as literary references to many of our beloved authors and poets to point us toward that goal where we reconnect with what is vital and central to the authentic self mentioned above.  He explains how that self is lost and hammered down into near oblivion by the shoulds and oughts of family and community to get us ready to make our way and name in the world.  We might have gotten the message from loving but clueless parents that if we don’t do these things, we’ll be drifters in a competitive world, or worse.

The allusions to the poets, heavy thinkers, dry wits, word craftsmen and myth makers over the centuries make this book highly readable.   There are quotes from Rilke, Dylan Thomas, Samuel Beckett, Goethe, Pascal, Jesus, Mohammed.  This is a fine book for 12 steppers, too, who already know the power of surrender to something greater than oneself, to that call that comes from deep within planted at the beginning of life if not before.  That surrender means the dropping of ego defenses held tightly by the stout ego.  The book is for all ages and particularly speaks to us that have slipped over or down the hill in the “second” part of life.  He even tells us that those who have paid heed to that inner call are at greater peace at the end of our lives with fewer or no regrets because we have integrated all aspects of our being into a truly wondrous whole.

Read John’s blog on the same book. Also see his blog on Hollis other book: Finding Meaning in the Second Part of Life: How to Really Grow Up.

-Pat

Here at Lemuria we’re all mourning the loss of literary giant John Updike, who passed away Tuesday (see the New York Times article).

We’ve been talking about him since he died, bouncing “have you read . . . ” questions around.  For such a prolific writer it’s not hard to find some way each of us has been affected by his words..

Caroline said that she will miss his literary criticism.  He wrote a fantastic introduction for the novel Appointment in Samarra by John O’Hara, one of her favorite books.  Lisa has read Mr. Updike’s book of short stories, Licks of Love.  She said she enjoyed the stories so much she gave them a second reading a few years later.  Ellis is in awe of the man, and is looking forward to reading all of the “Rabbit” books.

I personally dug his short stories about the Maples, a husband and wife whom Updike carried through all the stages of their tumultuous relationship.  Emily and I were just talking about these stories Monday night; she’s presenting one of her own short stories, inspired by Updike’s substance and style, Saturday at the Mississippi Philological Association conference at Mississippi College.

The Maples are a typical American couple beset by typical relationship drama that results from infidelity, jealousy, recklessness, and insecurity, but Updike handles his middle-class protagonists with careful prose that imbues their seemingly artless lives with importance.  Updike has said of his proclivity for focusing on middle-class American lives, “I like middles.  It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules.”  Well, there’s nothing ambiguous about what John Updike has meant to the literary world.  His loss is felt here at Lemuria.

For a list of Lemuria’s John Updike first editions click here.

Emily here again. I know this has nothing to do  with books, but I have learned that booklovers almost always love good music and I just had to share.

If you have not hear of the Fleet Foxes yet, shame on you! This small band out of Seattle hit it big last summer when they were given the chance to open for Wilco. In the short span of a year they have gone from being unheard of to performing on Saturday Night Live, which by the way was absolutely phenomenal! The band consists of five men, the four original members and a new guitarist. This band will surprise you with the array of instruments it is able to incorporate into its songs and the perfect accapella harmony in which the four original members sing in songs such as “Blue Ridge Mountain,” my personal favorite. The band has already released a studio album called Fleet Foxes, also known as Ragged Wood, and an EP named Sun Giant. There SNL video is on youtube.com and you can listen to them for free at grooveshark.com.

Welcome readers of fiction and non-fiction to Lemuria’s book club!

An open invitation awaits those Lemuria readers who would like the opportunity to join a lively, challenging book club. We call ourselves “Atlantis”. We meet at 5:30 p.m. in the upstairs lobby on the second floor of Banner Hall, just outside the front door of Lemuria, on the first Thursday of each month, unless it falls on a holiday. Our next meeting is Thursday, Feb. 5, when we will discuss The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, a provocative foreign fiction read set in India.

In addition to discussing a wide variety of  Southern fiction, literary fiction, and foreign fiction, as well as non-fiction,  newcomers will have an unusual opportunity to meet other readers from around the Jackson area. Formed about a year and a half ago, we are an informal, small group, and would welcome any new readers. As an extra benefit, book club members receive a 10% discount on book club selections. Some of the books we have read in the last year are:

Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson

The Most Dangerous Age by Ellen Gilchrist

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Mary Ann Shafer

The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel

Alfred and Emily by Doris Lessing

So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger

Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

Peony in Love by Lisa See

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Maytrees by Annie Dillard

For more information, please email me at nan@lemuriabooks.com or call me at Lemuria (601)366-7619.

Hope to see you soon.

-Nan

My friend, Wickie, found the article below, about Per Petterson, in The Guardian and forwarded it on to me. We both loved his novel, Out Stealing Horses, and the article makes me anxious to read more of his works. Although the article is long, read it if you have a chance to read it I highly suggest that you do. Not only does it give you insight into Petterson’s background, it also gives you a better understanding about what makes him tick as a writer. I’ve heard that his latest novel that has been translated into English, To Siberia, is wonderful as well.

Interview by James Campbell which appeared in The Guardian on January 3, 2009

Per Petterson remembers the last thing his mother said to him. It was in April 1990. She had just finished reading his first novel, Echoland, which had been published in Norway the previous year. “She said: ‘Well, I hope the next one won’t be that childish.’ Which was a blow. And the next weekend she was dead.”

Petterson’s father, brother and nephew died with her, when a ferry caught fire on the overnight sailing from Oslo to Frederikshavn in northern Denmark (159 people lost their lives). “I’ve thought a lot about what she said. I’ve tried to figure out what she meant.

Click here to read the full article.

-Caroline