End of Document. Object[1] Title: Wonder Land. Categories: Fantasy, Occult, Occult-Jungian
Wonder Land is a novel by Jungian author Richard Noll, who is better known for his characterisation of the prodigal son. It was published in 1980.
In a tale set in the fictitious "Wonder Land", the prodigal son returns to his father, who has given him everything.
Plot summary
An unnamed hero returns to his father for the first time since being released from a mental hospital at the age of eighteen. The protagonist realizes that he has not changed, yet he must take responsibility for his actions and for the effect they have had on his family. The setting is a fashionable amusement park in California, reminiscent of Disneyland. The park is run by the people he used to work for. The protagonist explains that he has come to the park to make amends to them for things he has done in the past, even if they have forgiven him. They have not heard from him before, but they ask him to return their property. He has not seen his father for twenty years and is not sure how his father will react to him. The father is an aging German immigrant who has raised the son alone. The father teaches the son to be himself by giving him his name back and telling him to go on his own. The father instructs the son to tell no one of his return and asks him to return before his 21st birthday.
The author imagines how the father's reaction will play out, and then turns to the son's vision of the future.
Characterisation
Jungian author Richard Noll used the story of the prodigal son to show how this archetypal character helps the individual gain insights into his or her own unconscious.
Reviews
The book received a number of reviews.
Lorraine A. Weissberg, Professor of English at the University of Maryland, writes: "Wonder Land is a novel that Jungians might wish to read. Its central character, Willy, is a well-developed, familiar Jungian character type, and the father's teachings provide a naturalization of his unconscious functions, especially the individuation that Willy wants to undertake. Jung himself used such fables to explain his ideas to those who were not receptive to analytical psychology."
W. Don Rosenburg, author of A Book of Jungian Tales (1986), writes: "The
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