Turning the Gorgon

by Sandra Edelman

Shame, although a long neglected psychological issue, is just beginning to receive the wider clinical attention it deserves (primarily from the affect theorists). Edelman's thoughts on it, an outgrowth of her Jungian analytical work, helps to clarify the depth of its overlooked and misinterpreted origin. To do this Edelman uses the fields of psychology, philosophy, mythology, classical scholarship, and theology. The final chapter suggests ways of healing a crippling sense of shame using each of these discipline's perspectives. Part of the book is a re-membering of the classical goddess Athene and her relationship to the Gorgon, whose image is taken as an emblem of shame.