Basic Intro to Themes and Plot of Wagner's Ring

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	• Ring of Power: Symbols and Themes Love Vs. Power in Wagner's Ring Circle and in Us : A Jungian-Feminist ... Jean Shinoda Bolen Nicolas-Hays, 1999 - 245 pages average customer review:based on 8 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Basic Intro to Themes and Plot of Wagner's Ring

Jean Shinoda Bolen's book on Wagner is appropriately titled - with a complete absence of poetry, it is what it is. The only amendment I could propose would be to add the phrase "A Brief Introduction to" at the beginning.

Full disclosure -- I found Ms. Bolen's book after my first "work-through" of the Karajan recording of the complete Ring, and I was eager to delve deeper into Wagner's titanic opera. Bolen's work is fine, as far as it goes, but it doesn't go very far.

A brief book (around 200 pages, with very large type), "Ring of Power" restricts itself to the visual and textual aspects of Wagner's opera. Divided into four main chapters -- one for each of the operas of the Ring -- "Ring of Power" provides a brief plot synopsis of each opera followed by an exploration of some of the Jungian themes contained in the opera. The synopses are workmanlike and relatively thorough textual analyses, and I can safely say that I have a clearer picture of the action than after listening to the opera on CD.

The exploration of Jungian themes is a bit difficult to swallow at times. Bolen relates many of the ideas Wagner explores (sacrificing love for power, the problems of patriarchy, the insidious impact of child abuse, etc.) to her current practice as clinical psychologist (or some other mental health professional -- sorry, Ms. Bolen). It is rather jarring to juxtapose one of the most titanic, mythic operas to some of the "crises" Ms. Bolen witnesses in her practice, which seem just so mundane. Ms. Bolen defends her analogies and her theories as much as she needs to in this brief work, but even this solidly-written book cannot be considered to have the heft of actual "proof."

The most jarring omission from "Ring of Power" is a near-complete absence of any discussion of the role of music. We are talking opera here, and one of the defining works of the genre. Wagner's musical achievements in the Ring have been documented over and over, and Ms. Bolen virtually ignores this subject. The end result is that she reduces Wagner's Ring to a story -- a powerful one, to be sure, but an opera is so much more than its storyline.

For those, like me, who are new to this wonder that is Wagner's Ring, Ms. Bolen's book is a fine exploration of some of the basic plot points and themes. I am no student of Jung, so I really wasn't too jazzed about the analogies to Ms. Bolen's patients, although some were more interesting than others. However, the scope of this book is too limited for it to qualify as a suitable "companion" to the Ring or an exploration of all the ideas -- both textual and musical -- contained in this wondrous creation.

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Cold Wind To Valhalla

Certainly one of Bolen's most essential works. Ring Of Power provides a valuable guide to Wagner's classic Ring Cycle, yet it is Bolen's grasp of the archetypal basis for the mythology that gives the book its power.

All creation comes from an archetypal base, and in The Ring, it is the symbolic sacrificing of the Sacred Feminine that drives the entire story. This principle is fundamental to many pieces, including Faust, the Grail legends and even Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

In each case, only the restoration of that which has been sacrificed in a Faustian pact can make healing occur. Bolen's genius is never clearer than in this book, and it was pivotal to the concluding sections of my own book, Sirius Moonlight: The Origins Of The Suppression Of The Feminine.

I would strongly recommend Ring Of Power, and indeed all of Bolen's works - especially her autobiographical Crossing To Avalon. People who doubt the importance of Thinking Person's Feminism might consider this... 84 years ago Jean Shinoda Bolen would not have been able to vote, own her own house or inherit property from her father. Like every other woman in the highly civilized English-speaking world.

My own book is dedicated to the nine million women who were murdered by the Church during the Inquisition, for such heinous crimes as being midwives and healers. Lest we forget. If the patriarchal Valhalla is now burning, all I can say is pass the gasoline. Good job, Jean.

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Jung, Women & Wagner: A Powerful Trio

I won't launch into an academic review or a precise of the story. Suffice to say that this is a wonderful book. For 30 - something women, particularly who identify with a patriarchal 'Wotan' figure and his defiant daughter (Brunnhilde) who forsakes wealth and power for love, this is a journey with which you will be familiar. And a wonderfully warm insight into what can be acheived by such women should they take some risks and act from their hearts! Many books have been written on the suppression of the feminine in society but this multi faceted gem allows a glimpse of so many layers of understanding in such an accessible way that it is irresistible. A peek at Carl Jung, an introduction to the genius of Wagner, the insights of the mythologies and the interpretation and storytelling genius of Jean Shinoda Bolen. If nothing else, this book is good value! So much in one package - a rare find these days indeed!

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Donington redux, from a female point of view

While reading Donington's brilliant analysis of Wagner's Nibelungenring, I often feel that he has a blind spot for women's psychology and experiences. This is most evident in how all the female (as well as some male) characters are generally seen as mere aspects of the central, male psychology of Wotan. My question was, does this blindness come from Donnington, or from Wagner? To answer this question, I went looking for a woman's interpretation of the Ring, and I found Bolen's. In short, Bolen's book shows that Wagner's insight into female psychology goes further than what Donington reveals.

Bolen's background is in clinical psychology, and this colours her analysis. Where Donington sees the cast of the Ring as aspects of one single (male) psychology, Bolen sees it as a dysfunctional family ruled by a narcissistic patriarch. In a way she falls into a trap which is very similar to Donington's, as she reduces Wotan to a one-dimensional character whose relevance is only that of the guilty party in the dysfunction of the whole "family". However, the proof of the pudding is whether her analysis rings true, and for me she does shed new light on this story that has been with me for a long time.

As an example I will mention what is perhaps the most difficult part of the story to understand at a psychological level, Siegfried's betrayal of Brunhilde. In Bolen's analysis, Siegfried, having been brought up by Mime, has never experienced love, but merely the pretense of love. When he meets Brunhilde, he is therefore unable to understand the depth of emotion that she has for him. While he benefits from her love, he does not understand the degree to which his commitment to her is expected and required, since the only other "love" he has experienced was that of Mime, which contained no commitment at all. This makes Siegfried able to betray.

She then compares Siegfried's encounter with the Gibichungs to that of a social climber, noting how Siegfried, like Gunther and Gutrune, stand to gain in social standing by their association. Surrounded by members of a higher social class, to which he want to gain entry, Siegfried now also has the incentive to betray Brunhilde, which he does. To me, this way of looking at the story is refreshingly different from Donington's, yet based on a similar psychological foundations, and in no way in conflict with it.

Bolen is not a long-time "Ring-head" (to use her own phrase), the book appears to have been written rather soon after a powerful first encounter with Wagner's work. For instance, she makes a point of Gunther attempting to avert Hagen's murder of Siegfried --- something that I don't believe is in Wagner's text, but which may have been done at the particular Ring production she happened to see. The analysis is based almost entirely on the story and the libretto (and on Donington as well), and makes few references to the music. She does not have Donington's complete mastery of the text, the music and Wagner's biography (including factual errors like saying that the Ring was written in four years). What she does bring is a feminist viewpoint, as well as many convincing examples of modern day situations that may produce similar dysfunctions to the ones she sees in the Ring. Bolen's text does in no way replace Donningtons, but it makes a valuable companion to it, one that for me filled a gaping hole in that otherwise invaluable text. To me, this book opens up the parts of the Ring that is outside of my personal experience as a man, and I would imagine it might also be a good point of entry for women into the world of the Ring.

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