The Springs of Creativity

it is at once evident that the author endeavours to answer the ancient questions: "What is Art? What is Man?" To achieve this goal he pursues innumerable fields of study and first directs his efforts to the Old and New Testament. He views these stories as epics written by poets. With the help of numerous quotations from the Bible and from elsewhere he convinces us that we are dominated by the Osiris Saga, Oedipus Tale, Electra complex and the Adam and Eve story. Whether these are called archetypes or expressed in some other terminology is irrelevant. "The Springs of Creativity" remains the incest to which Freud led the way, and in my opinion Jung is nothing else but Freud plus mystery. Freud discovered the unconscious and Infantile Sexuality and so offered the means to explain Art. The incestuous desires are the driving forces in all Art and Literature, whether ancient or contemporary. This is well displayed in the case of "Joan" that is introduced by Sir Herbert Read. "Joan" is schizophrenic. The best technique for her as an artist is to use the primordial material to develop her images (which Sir Herbert Read preferred to call Icons rather than Symbols). With these means she is kept in contact with the external world which prevents her from capitulating completely to the unconscious. The distortions, disfigurements and ugliness of her drawings are reflections of herself in dissatisfied narcissism evolved from the parental complex. With the help of the psychotherapist, Joan was able to realise what the external world could offer besides frustration and made to use her phantasies to strengthen her personality. To turn a schizophrenic into a schizoid personality is the best result one can expect especially in an artist who had to retain some unhappiness to foster her imagination. Schizophrenic ideas are paramount for maintaining and developing