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The Cat: A Tale of Feminine Redemption book (based on Lectures) author: M.-L. von Franz in print 1999 ISBN: 0-919123-84-8 Links:

From the author's Preface: Nowadays fairy tales are studied from many angles, not least in terms of depth psychology, which is the standpoint of this book. It is intended to teach how to recognize archetypal material and how to handle it from the point of view of Jungian psychology. -- Marie-Louise von Franz "The Cat" is a Romanian fairy tale of some complexity and great charm. It is the story of a princess who at the age of 17 is bewitched - turned into a cat. She must remain in that form until an emperor's son will come and cut off her head... Eventually a simple-minded emperor's son, searching the earth for fine linen, finds her and accomplishes the task. How and why this happens is patiently dissected by Dr. von Franz with her characteristic erudition and earthy humor. One by one she unravels the symbolic threads in this story, from enchantment to beating, the ringing of bells, golden apples, somersaults and witches, etc., and, throughout, the great themes of redemption and the union of opposites, always relating them to both individual and collective psychology. Originally a lecture series presented at the Jung Institute in Zürich, this is von Franz at her very best, theoretically lucid, sharply insightful and always grounded in lived experience.

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