Proposal to publish:
ENTER THROUGH THE IMAGE
The Ancient Image-Language of Myth, Art, and Dreams
In 1945, on a hill overlooking the Nile, a sacred text was accidentally unearthed after having been buried for seventeen hundred years. Within its aged pages, there appeared the cryptic inscription ‘...enter through the image.’ Another sacred text, contemporary with the first, echoed this ancient philosophy, adding, ‘...for the image itself will show you the way.’
In the earlier mythopoeic epoch of our culture, we formulated our first thoughts in images. Our dreaming each night, coupled with each day’s art and myth-making, manifest this ancient manner of thinking. But over the course of time, that style of thought was gradually forgotten. It was slowly replaced by a more logic-oriented manner of discourse. Nevertheless, the ancient manner of image-thinking persists in us still, preserved in art and myth, and recurring each night in our dreams.
Enter Through the Image makes a unique contribution to our understanding of myth, sacred art, and dreams. By looking first at myths and sacred works of art, it elucidates the narrative patterns and image-clusters which also occurr in our oneiric creations. By identifying these recurring patterns (called ‘iconologues’), the book elucidates the iconologic at the heart of all dreaming, art and myth-making. With this knowledge, we are able to think once more through arrangements of images. In essence, we can ‘enter through the image’ to its more ancient and sacred understanding of life.
Acquiring a profession, getting married, having children – these are just a few of life’s many threshold crossings. Dreams announce these ‘from within’, offering us images of our life-threshold crossings. Sacred works of art and myth also make use of these ‘Life-Threshold Images’. But, in doing so, they render life itself as sacred. In the more ancient philosophy that arises by the end of our study, we come to see life itself, through its many threshold-crossings, as a gradual unfolding of the Sacred.
THE RESEARCH
To dream means to think in images. To think in images means to make connections between things, based on the structure of imagery rather than the logic of our language. This book uncovers those structures through documented research.
To begin, it provides a clearer understanding of myths, particularly those of Judæo-Christianity, Hindu-Buddhism, and the Ancient Near-East (Egypt, Mesopotamia), citing studies by Frye, Eliade, Zimmer, and Campbell. The reader learns ‘how to read a myth’, and how to relate the temporal and narrative structures of myth to dreams. More importantly, the book relates myths and dreams to life.
It also examines the structures of sacred art, drawing examples from ancient sources (Egypt, India) and contemporary Visionary Art – Ernst Fuchs (Fantastic Realism), Johfra (Dutch Hermeticism) and Salvador Dali (Surrealism). It elucidates the symbols and mythologems in these works and, particularly in the case of the Visionary artists, offers images from their painting and ideas from their writings which deserve better recognition. (To this end, passages from their writings are translated into English for the first time). The reader learns how to approach a work of art, relate its images to his own life, and so ‘enter through’ images of the Sacred.
The book also offers many interesting dreams, both of famous persons (Baudelaire, Descartes, Tolstoy,et al) and of anonymous sources from fin de siècle Vienna. (This dream material is drawn from Wilhelm Stekel’s 1912 work – long since out of print – and rendered in fresh translations). Much groundbreaking research has been carried out into the logic of dreams, citing studies not only by Freud and Jung, but Saint-Denys.
Saint-Denys’ work has lately come back into vogue, since he wrote the first full-length study on lucid dreaming (1867). However, his pioneering research also sheds much light on dream-logic. Hence, the author also presents many fresh translations from Saint-Denys – both his research and his dreams. (The last English translation, Duckworth 1982, is presently O/P. Oniros, his French publisher, has recently re-issued his works with a modern commentary, and is presently looking for a new English translator).
Although the book is grounded in research, it rises above the source material. It maintains a clear and lively style, and remains focussed on life issues.
THE AUTHOR
The author is a practising artist and writer who has investigated the interplay of art, myth, and dreams in his works for many years. Born in Toronto Canada of Maltese descent, he studied at the University of Toronto (Freud, Jung, Surrealism, Mythology, et al), graduating with a Degree in Philosophy, specifically Hermeneutics (the study of interpretation). He then studied painting at the Academy of Pictorical Arts in Vienna, where he became familiar with ‘Fantastic Realism’.
After re-settling in Europe, he made his home in Malta for two years, then in Munich for three years, and finally in Paris - all the while painting and exhibiting his works. During 2001, he lived in Monaco and apprenticed directly under Prof Ernst Fuchs, the recognized founder of ‘the Viennese School of Fantastic Realism.’ At the same time, he wrote The Manifesto of Visionary Art.
Married with a French wife, he speaks fluent English, German and French. He presently lives in Paris, where he continues to paint and exhibit his works, as well as edit The Visionary Revue: the On-line Journal of Visionary Art.
THE AUDIENCE
This is a trade book which crosses over into several scholarly areas, while still intended for a commercial audience. It is written for the educated layman, and should be categorized as Mythology first of all, secondly as the Psychology of Dreaming, and thirdly as Spirituality or Religion. Hence, it would appeal to a readers interested in mythology, dreams, symbolism, and the relations between these three. Interested professionals would include psycho-analysts, art therapists, artists, writers, and teachers of art or myth. The book would also attract readers interested in comparative religion, classical philosophy, esoterism, and modern trends in visionary art.
THE COMPETITION
A glance at the shelves of any large bookstore would quickly point out the need for this book. It encompasses several fields of interest, and unites them into one subject. In so doing, it brings studies on dreams (Freud, Jung, Saint-Denys) out of the Psychology section, as well as studies on symbolism (Eliade, Zimmer, Frye) out of the Religion section, and places them all next to Campbell in Mythology. (Due to a fortunate co-incidence in the spelling of the author’s last name – Caruana – that is where the reader will find the book. This is an aspect of bookselling that should not be overlooked). Readers of Campbell will find his studies on mythology expanded through the other sources, and applied to the fascinating world of dreams.
To the author’s knowledge, no book has rigorously applied the structures of art and myth to dreams, and then applied the structure of dreams to life. Works in modern Cognitive Psychology support this approach (Arnheim, Visual Thinking (1969), Foukes, A Grammar of Dreams (1978), Hunt, The Multiplicity of Dreams (1989)) but they do not identify the specific structures of dreaming. While numerous ‘Dictionaries for Dreamers’ populate the shelves, no book has examined its iconologic. Readers interested in understanding their dreams, especially in regard to myth and art, will find a new, unique approach.
PUBLICITY
The author is willing to take an active role in the promotion of this book. Since he is a recognized artist, he will make copies available at all future seminars, exhibitions, and openings, while also promoting the book on his own website (www.LCaruana.com) which receives hundreds of visits weekly. As editor of The Visionary Revue, he is able publicize the book to thousands of readers interested in Visionary art. And, as president of the French branch of The Society for Art of the Imagination, he is in a position to promote the book to all members of this international organization. Upon publication, the author also plans to organize a series of lectures at seminars and readings at bookshops.
SPECIFICATIONS
The present manuscript, which is finished and available on computer diskette, has an approximate length of 157,000 words (150,000 for the text, 7,000 for the References). Depending on the layout, this would lead to a book of 350 - 400 pages.
The book would require approximately ten half-tone reproductions. He has already acquired the rights to these images, particularly from contemporary Visionary artists (Fuchs, Johfra). There are also five simple diagrams (line art). While the author has minimalized the need for reproductions, the text invites more, with the possibility of turning this into an attractively illustrated book.
THE PUBLISHER
The ideal publishing house has a reputation of producing quality books in the fields of Mythology, Dreams, and Art. By working together with your house, I hope to produce a book that would be of great interest to the reader – allowing him to broaden his perspective on life, through images. In this regard, please contact me at my Paris address at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
L. Caruana
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