The Red Book Dialogues: Actress Kathleen Chalfan Jungian analyst Margaret Klenck
Jungian analyst Margaret Klenck joined Chalfant on stage, to discuss an image from Jung’s Red Book, which outlines his theories of the unconcious. Klenck started off the evening with a note about Freud’s use of the word “association.” She said, “It means, ‘Gee, there’s an image of a dog. I had dogs. I had a bunch of dogs. I was allergic to dogs. I was so allergic that the first boyfriend, once, I couldn’t kiss him because there were dog hairs….kissing him was like this.’ And then you go. And you get very far away from dog.”
Klenk explained how Jung’s take differs from Freud’s. “Jung said: Stay with the dog. Amplify. Not associate, but amplify. What does it mean that you’re allergic to man’s best friend?”
From there, Klenk and Chalfant engaged in an hour-long conversation about everything from aging (“I used to believe everything was going to be fine. But I don’t anymore.”) to New Years’ Eve in Times Square to the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.