Phallos

Phallos is a 2004 novel by the acclaimed novelist and critic Samuel R. Delany. Taking the form of a gay pornographic novella, with the explicit sex omitted, Phallos is set during the reign of the second-century Roman emperor Hadrian, and circles around the historical account of the murder of the emperor’s favorite, Antinous. The story moves from Syracuse to Egypt, from the Pillars of Hercules to Rome, from Athens to Byzantium, and back. Young Neoptolomus searches after the stolen phallus of the nameless god of Hermopolis, crafted of gold and encrusted with jewels, within which are reputedly the ancient secrets of science and society that will lead to power, knowledge, and wealth. Vivid and clever, the original novella has been expanded by nearly a third. Appended to the text are an afterword by Robert F. Reid-Pharr and three astute speculative essays by Steven Shaviro, Kenneth R. James, and Darieck Scott.

Through close examination of the physical, physhological and mythological aspects of phallos, the author differentiates masculinity from patriarchy and discovers a mysterious, divine reality coequal with the maternal principle as an originating force in the psyche.

A fascinating study of the phallus as a symbol of power and dominance, this book offers an interesting thesis regarding a cultural repression of homosexuality and some challenging hypotheses concerning elemental ties between boys and older men.

Dionysos, one of the most misunderstood of the gods, is a masculine energy that brings us back to life and vitality in a way that includes deep partnership with the feminine. Through the exploration of the love story of Ariadne and Dionysos, Alchemy of the Heart takes us on an archetypal adventure into an ancient world where the dance of masculine and feminine ignites fullness of being in both men and women. From the shadowy labyrinth of Minos to the sacred Initiation Chamber at Pompeii, Alchemy of the Heart travels the landscape of both the outer world and the inner psyche as it points the way past contemporary hedonism and pornography addiction into a Dionysian world of joy, vibrant sexuality, and spiritual transcendence. “A solid and important work of scholarship that is a must-read for those doing depth psychological work. Aguilar mines the myth of Dionysos and Ariadne for its insights into expanding Jungian notions about the animus and a woman’s journey to wholeness. In the process, she updates Jungian thought to match emerging ways of seeing gender, the feminine, and the masculine in our time.” —Carol S. Pearson, Ph.D., Author of Persephone Rising, The Hero Within and Awakening the Heroes Within. Former President of Pacifica Graduate Institute. “Joseph Campbell showed us the mythic mysteries, now Marina Aguilar unlocks the secrets of ecstatic teachings. Alchemy of the Heart is a breakthrough work on our divine connection to nature and the playful wisdom of the body.” —Jonathan Young, Ph.D., Psychologist, Founding Curator, Joseph Campbell Archives. “A superb study of the myth of Dionysos through the lens of Jung’s spiritual alchemy. Focusing on the sacred marriage of Dionysos and Ariadne, the author illuminates the journey to wholeness, both horizontal and vertical, revealing a power to heal not only a broken psyche but a broken world. Aguilar’s ‘meditative exegesis’ on the Dionysian initiation chamber in the Villa of Mysteries at Pompeii is a model of transcendence at the heart of Plato’s noetic philosophy. This is a penetrating reading bringing to life an ancient, yet timeless, myth.” —Michael P. Morrissey, Ph.D., Author of Consciousness and Transcendence: The Theology of Eric Voegelin. Marina Aguilar received her master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, and has been a practicing depth psychotherapist and educator since 1990. She specializes in individuation as a spiritual, as well as soul process. Her expertise in mythology, comparative religion, spiritual alchemy and the ancient mystery school teachings serves as a valuable tool in working with archetypal themes as they emerge in day to day life, imagination, art and dreams. Having lived in the United States, Mexico and Europe, her work bridges cultures, continents and spiritual modalities and focuses on increasing consciousness and wholeness within the individual and society as a whole.

In this study of the Lady Chatterley novels, Masami Nakabayashi pays particular attention to D.H. Lawrence''s language for the feelings and for the life of the unselfconscious, sexual body. The novels constantly find ways of verbalising the characters'' internalised experiences as they occur in states of unselfconsciousness. Lawrence''s language for sensual feelings and emotions has always been regarded as simply ''sexual'' and no previous critics have explored or made sense of the complexities of his peculiar, but extremely sophisticated, writing practice in the Lady Chatterley novels. Lawrence was a habitual reviser of his work, and, despite the availability of reliable texts in the Cambridge edition, few critics have traced the nature and significance of his changes from one draft to the next. By examining and analysing the novels'' particular linguistic revisions, Masami Nakabayashi reveals the textual impulse behind Lawrence''s original conception and its subsequent change and development.

Sheets-Johnstone critically examines the work of contemporary theorists, including Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Jacques Lacan, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jacques Derrida, in an effort to recover the lived body and its impact on gendered existence and power relations. Deeply critical of feminist writers who minimize biological experience, she argues that theorists must thoroughly consider the evolutionary body in order to understand its cultural reworkings.. -- Choice review.