Gustavo TurnerOur brethren at the Village Voice report that over the weekend, as part of the marketing strategy for expensive facsimiles of The Red Book–a recently unveiled illustrated manuscript by cultish psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung–our friend Billy Corgan was “psychoanalyzed” in NYC in front of a live audience by a live shrink.
Ok, I know what you're thinking. “Wait,” your subconscious is telling you, “isn't psychoanalysis a long, complicated process that bears no resemblance to a narcissistic rock star (and “magical” being, according to David Lynch) looking at the colorful doodles of a loopy Swiss mystic favored by sketchy guys in coffeehouses who don't have much to do between Phish reunions, while he is being interviewed, James-Lipton style, by an alleged mental-health professional?” (your subconscious, by the way, loves run-on sentences).
You and your dominant psychic structures are all, of course, correct. But that doesn't mean the whole stunt did not provide us with some insight into the Corganmind, including a priceless moment from Billy's kidhood:
“My step-mom would tell me that she would get complaints from adults that I stared too much at them,” the Smashing Pumpkin recalled. “'Can you tell him to stop staring at me?' they would tell her. That has followed me all of my life. I realize I'm a mirror.”
Channeling Billy, the kid.; Credit: Araceli Cruz for The Village Voice
(More Jungian revelations, after the jump.)
More nuggets from Araceli Cruz's Village Voice coverage:
“The first thing that struck me was the boat,” said Billy Corgan, onstage Saturday at the Rubin Museum, where he was being psychoanalyzed. In front of him was an image from C. G. Jung's The Red Book. The illustration was of a vessel at sea, with a spear-clutching man perched on its bow. Beneath swam a large fish with teeth. “I think Egypt…boat…death…crisis of doubt…the confrontation of faith. I think of the myth of Orpheus,” Corgan said. “Do I need to be committed?”
“This is not an easy journey,” Corgan said at one point. “But it is a fantastic journey.”
What about confronting the monster?” Stebbins asked, attempting (in vain) to refer the discussion back to Jung and the psychoanalyst's image of a vampire-like fish. “That's a tough one, and I'm not talking about the obvious monsters,” Corgan said, equating Jung's fearful vision to a former lover. “I lived with a monster in New York.”
Said Corgan: “Sometimes I have to say I don't want to talk to you…can I talk to the 4-year-old you?”
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