From India to the Planet Mars: A Case of Multiple Personality with Imaginary Languages

by Theodore Flournoy, Sonu Shamdasani (Editor), C. G. Jung (Preface by), Mireille Cifali (Afterword)

Overview

A classic in the field of psychology, From India to Planet Mars (1900) depicts the remarkable multiple existence of the medium Hélène Smith, who claimed to be the reincarnation of Marie Antoinette, of a Hindu princess from fifteenth-century India, and of a regular visitor to Mars, whose landscapes she painted and whose language she appeared to speak fluently. Through a psychological interpretation of these fantasies, which consisted in the subliminal elaboration of forgotten memories, Théodore Flournoy vastly extended the scope and understanding of the unconscious, and in particular, of its creative and mythopoetic capacities. In the introduction to this work, Soriu Shamdasani evokes the rich cultural and intellectual setting which Flournoy published his findings, and discusses their impact on Freud, Jung, and other pioneers psychology.

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691608990
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	03/08/2015
Series:	Princeton Legacy Library , #1754
Pages:	388
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

Editorial Note (1994)

Forword: Theodore Flournoy

Introduction: Encountering Helene: Theodore Flournoy and the Genesis of Subliminal Psychology

Preface

Ch. 1 Introduction

Ch. 2 Childhood and Youth of Mlle. Smith

Ch. 3 Mlle. Smith Since Her Initiation into Spiritism

Ch. 4 The Personality of Leopold

Ch. 5 The Martian Cycle

Ch. 6 The Martian Cycle (Continued): The Martian Language

Ch. 7 The Martian Cycle (Concluded): The Ultra-Martian

Ch. 8 The Hindoo Cycle

Ch. 9 The Royal Cycle

Ch. 10 Supernormal Appearances

Ch. 11 Conclusion

Appendix One: The Making of Martian: The Creation of an Imaginary Language

Appendix Two: Passages Abridged from the 1900 Translation

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Two books that became classics in dynamic psychiatry appeared in 1900: Flournoy's From India to the Planet Mars and Freud's Interpretation of Dreams.... [The former] told the story of Théodore Flournoy's five-year investigation in Geneva of Catherine Muller [whom he called "Hélène Smith"], who claimed to have the gift of clairvoyance and the ability to reincarnate, in her mediumistic trances, phases of her previous lives.... This book, as entertaining as a novel by Jules Verne or H. G. Wells, is a deep-reaching analysis of some of the subtle processes of the subconscious mind. It brings evidence of subliminal imaging as a creative and continuous activity."—Henri Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious

"[Flournoy's study] of a single, complex, extraordinary case remains one of the most detailed case histories of multiple personality theory.... Simply put, [it] is to current-day multiple personality theory what Anna O. was to psychoanalysis—one of the founding cases."—Mark S. Micale

Editorial Reviews

"Readers ... will be very interested in the recently published version of Théodore Flournoy's wonderfully written examination of a young medium whom he has diagnosed as having [multiple personality disorder]. This volume is a double treat because in addition to the main body ... it has a fascinating and in-depth scholarly introduction ... that places the book in its historical context and sheds light on its importance then and now."

Contemporary Psychology

"[Flournoy's study] of a single, complex, extraordinary case remains one of the most detailed case histories of multiple personality theory.... Simply put, [it] is to current-day multiple personality theory what Anna O. was to psychoanalysis—one of the founding cases."—Mark S. Micale

"Two books that became classics in dynamic psychiatry appeared in 1900: Flournoy's From India to the Planet Mars and Freud's Interpretation of Dreams.... [The former] told the story of Théodore Flournoy's five-year investigation in Geneva of Catherine Muller [whom he called "Hélène Smith"], who claimed to have the gift of clairvoyance and the ability to reincarnate, in her mediumistic trances, phases of her previous lives.... This book, as entertaining as a novel by Jules Verne or H. G. Wells, is a deep-reaching analysis of some of the subtle processes of the subconscious mind. It brings evidence of subliminal imaging as a creative and continuous activity."—Henri Ellenberger, The Discovery of the Unconscious

From the Publisher