The Luxury of Afterwards

About the Book

Christine Downing has graced the campus of San Diego State University, returning like Persephone each spring for the past ten years to deliver the annual lecture named in her honor. Printed here in their entirety, the talks are autobiographical, poetical, literary musings on the subjects that have occupied her for the past ten years, including the Holocaust, memory, the Bible, the Goddess, Martin Buber, Sigmund Freud, the myth of Orpheus, Greek tragedy, and the Imagist poet H.D.

Professor Downing's extensive publications on the role of myth in the psychologies of Freud and Jung, and in the contemporary quest for self-understanding, have made her an original source in these fields. Her books include The Goddess: Mythological Representations of the Feminine, Psyche's Sisters, Journey through Menopause, and Myths and Mysteries of Same Sex Love.

About the Author

Professor Christine Downing is celebrated for a long career as Professor and Chair in the Department of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She divides her time between her home in Del Mar, California and her now more permanent home on Orcas Island, Washington.