The Elusive Self: Archetypical Approaches to the Novels of Miguel Unamuno by Gayana Jurkevich (review)

Book Reviews237 The philosopher's method of turning every "fact" two ways is, of course, demanded by Thoreau's views on "polarity." No less is it demanded by the proper appreciation of Thoreau's sense of any fact's potential. "Thoreau adjusts Kantian epistemology," says Johnson, "suggesting that the thing-initself can be experienced not only as noumenal representation but, given the proper discipline, as a living relation in a participative phenomenological dialogue " (38). Thoreau knew that everything had to be turned around more than once. Johnson cites Thoreau's famous image of chanticleer, the rowdy crowing fowl of legend, to demonstrate the epitomies of doubleness. He says, "The cock holds the two spheres of Walden's mindscape, the wild and the cultivated , in polar tension. Just as the beanfield is 'the connecting link between wild and cultivated fields,' ... so the dominant voice in Waiden [sic] is halfwild , half-cultivated, its polar power creating a system of opposition and generative resolution that creates new and ever-deepening meaning" (5455 ). It is essentially on this note of polarity, though played in varied meters, that What Thoreau Said is composed. This being the case, I recommend chapters four ("Reading Waiden as Self-Interpretation") and five ("Fishing for Men: The Waiden Dialogues") for both the reader who is only becoming acquainted with the reader-centered approach to criticism and the student of Waiden who wishes to explore new approaches to Thoreau's use of language. However, anyone who is spending a day in the woods should be sensible and take a copy of Waiden. LONNIE L. WILLIS Boise State University GAYANA JURKEVICH. TAe Elusive Self: Archetypical Approaches to the Novels of Miguel Unamuno. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991. 199 p. Gayana Jurkevich offers a meticulous analysis of Miguel de Unamuno y Juyo's prose work, emphasizing in particular the phenomenological projection of his psyche on his protagonists. Jurkevich's main thesis is that the struggle of Unamuno's agonista is necessarily linked to don Miguel's personal inability to complete his own process of individuation due to the important role of his dominant mother and the matriarchal order she imposed on her young son. References in the book discuss previous studies that have analyzed Unamuno's ontological crisis, but Jurkevich disagrees with their conclusions . This study suggests Unamuno's writing as his way to immortalize himself and, therefore, to conquer death. Jurkevich proposes a Jungian analysis to demonstrate how Unamuno's work produces continuous source material through his life, concluding that the author's literary expression became his own attempt at self-analysis and the reflection of his own struggle for individuation. 238Rocky Mountain Review TAe Elusive Self provides a preface, an introduction, and six chapters of approximately equal length whose titles cryptically capture the progressive thrust of the analysis. They are, in order, "En torno al casticismo: The Psychological sources of 'intrahistoria,' " "Paz en la guerra: The Emerging Self," "Niebla: A Struggle for Individuation," "Nada menos que todo un hombre and Cómo se hace una novela: The Man and the Mask," "Abel Sánchez: In pursuit of the Shadow," and "San Manuel Bueno, mártir: God as Great Mother." The study ends with a short conclusion in which Jurkevich presents the full complexion of Unamuno's reflexive cycle and his return to Mother Nature at the end of his life. The first chapter serves to bring attention to the similar and common sources between Carl G. Jung and Miguel de Unamuno. Both were interested in traditions and psychic structures as a legacy in the unconsciousness of mankind. Unamuno saw tradition not only as the "collective unconscious of psychic representation" (27) pointed out by the psychologist, but also identified tradition with Woman as she symbolizes the calm after agitation and social crisis. Often he related that calm with the mother sea. It is from this symbol that Unamuno's "intrahistoria" emerges. Jurkevich's analysis of the multiple conflicts that Unamuno portrays in his characters is intelligent and precise. She clearly shows in chapters two and three how the creation of male characters with infantile relationships reflects Unamuno's dominant mother archetype and his own inability to liberate his "anima" archetype from...