THE SNAKE, THE DRAGON AND THE TREE

Those of us who are interested in dreams, especially in those that have been painted by an analysand, are greatly indebted to Anne Bosch for all her painstaking effort it seeing to it that this richly illustrated case study of John Layard has finally seen the light of day. Even though Dr. Layard, who was an English anthropologist and Jungian analyst, passed away in 1974, the 34 years that have intervened between his death and the publishing of this valuable material have not dimmed the brilliance of his interpretations nor diminished the importance of what he had to say. In keeping with the time that it was written, this case study of an analysis of a young English girl (known as "Mary" in the book) that had had a schizophrenic mother and was thus brought up by aunts and her vicar father is in a style that one might call "old school" or even "classical Jungian" with a healthy dose of Freudian psychology thrown in as well. Although one can find a few instances where he didn't do it, I must admit to being put off by his way of maintaining that "this inner figure means this" and "that colour means that." For instance, throughout the book a snake is invariably phallic and purple always signifies incest. Today, I think (and hope) one would be more cautious in assigning such meanings, possibly even allowing that they may change meanings from one dream to another and during the young person's development and maturation. However, having said that, the great majority of his conclusions seem to fit the material quite well and we as readers are treated to a thorough and well-presented case study. I am sure that one reason Dr. Layard chose to present this material was due to the wealth of dream illustrations that "Mary" brought him over the years and permitted him to use for this book. Through them and her dreams we are treated to a ringside seat as her inner psyche develops and evolves. The fact that "Mary" seldom has insight into what her dreams are saying and revealing about the changes that are taking place in her life, makes what Dr. Layard presents all that more convincing. In the book's pages one encounters an analyst who is deeply concerned with the welfare, growth and development of his patient. In my estimation, his use of the transference during the course of her therapy is exemplary. Over the course of their years of therapeutic work together one is shown how "Mary" grows from being an insecure, withdrawn, angry girl (that had been kept from going to school and had never had any playmates) to becoming a competent and compassionate psychiatric nurse. In my opinion, the great majority of Dr. Layard's insights are timeless, being as applicable today as they were back when he was helping "Mary." I can thus highly recommend this book to all who wish to deepen their understanding of the human psyche.