It seems to me CAS had a firm grip on the physcological aspect of writing. Almost as if he studied Freud or at least lots of archetype mythology. Was he infact into physcology ? If not he sure had a way of setting of some bells and triggers deep in my subconcius. It even seems he knew where he was taking his reader physcologicaly first and then wrote the story around that frame work. Maybe I am thinking to much..

I still just can't get enough of CAS. Today I read The End of the Story for the third time in the last six months and still found it to be so good. It seemed as if I had missed the story last time. When I read CAS I can auctually hear the voices of characters , smell scenes etc.

I can't find any evidence that CAS had actually read any of Freud's writings, but he was familiar with the gist of his theories from popular articles of the time. Also, Sam Loveman was quite familiar with his work, as was Frank Belknap Long, both of whom discussed it with him--as a result of which it appears CAS deliberately inserted phallic imagery into some of his paintings and drawings as a joke. On the whole he tended to have a negative view of Freud and his theories, believing that they were just one more part of modern life stripping away wonder from the world and imposing an overall sterility of dogmaticism that denied the imagination. I wish that he could have read Freud's essay on "The Uncanny," it might have shown him that Siggie wasn't such a bad bloke after all. (It might also have made interpretation of "The Dweller in the Gulf" a heck of a lot of fun!)
On the other hand, CAS was a profound student of mythology, and appears to have drawn some of the same conclusions concerning its universality that Jung and Joseph Campbell did. Dr. Farmer has also spoken here of CAS's high regard for Robert Graves's novel THE WHITE GODDESS, which is a highly Jungian novel.
Scott

Clark had a rather battered copy bound in faded red cloth of "interpretation of Dreams" which he gave me, and I have since donated to a new college library.
I particularly recall the laugh we had over a silly cartoon, possibly drawn by Freud himself, illustrating a little boy's dream prompted by the need to get up and "go", in which the boy is urinating into a gutter by a sidewalk, and as each panel progresses, first a paper boat floats by as the stream grows, then a kayak or canoe, then a large rowboat (manned) and finally a gigantic steamship. The final panel has the lad awaking screaming in a wet bed.
And yes, he took a dim view of the whole business (see "Schizoid Creator"). And remember, the Library had Adler, Jung et al.

Drf

Thank you for confirming that CAS actually had read CAS. I couldn't find any mention of his having "Interpretation of Dreams" in his library, nor are there any references to specifics in his letters, so your reminiscences are most valuable. What library was the lucky recipient of the book?

Best,
Scott

Our Lady of Corpus Christi, an institution founded by SOLT - I donated 2000 books to them in order to help achieve accreditation - donated in memory of Scott Bickel, my heart donor.

Also of some passing interest dear Scott and Ron - just received the new Hippocampus Press "letters" of the Smith/Sterling correspondence which I took by hand to the Metropolitan Museum in NY so many years ago; I mentioned this experience in my memoirs in "Zagan", for which I also just received a little royalty check - so nice an
experience, and one in which you played a crucial part.

Have you received Donald's excellent "Gaspard de la Nuit"?

Drf

I tried to read Gaspard de la Nuit and found it very difficult reading