A Lecture upon the Shadow
The Secret Life of Margaret Ann Mensaert
Published on 31. March 2026
Book
Hardback
312 pages
979-8-9931240-4-9 (ISBN)
Description
What is it like to live with a wildly creative poet if you are a writer yourself?
1983. A lecture at the Jung Institute Zurich. "Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath-they were examples of the anima female. Marilyn Monroe too," the famed Jungian analyst/author Marion Woodman was saying. Listening to her, I knew: A Lecture upon the Shadow is about the anima female! She read the manuscript, very moved, confirming it was written unconsciously. I might have to wait ten years for everybody to understand it, she predicted. That's more than FORTY years ago! Will people understand it now? Be helped? Are there any other "anima females" out there, acting as muses?
A Lecture upon the Shadow is a zany look at a dysfunctional, intoxicated writer couple who use creativity in their relationship at an explosive level. Marion Woodman calls this "the anima female," that is, a situation where the female links into the creative unconscious of the male, making their tie absorbing. Unavoidable. A fueling station. Told a lot through conversation, it is based in a true story that illuminates the familiar predicament of "can't live with you/can't live without you." However, Merry Loup and Knut Karel spin a fascinating narrative. Join them in their travels and bohemian lifestyle, mostly in Morocco.
More details
Person
Three-time MacDowell fellow Margaret A Harrell-author, editor-is noted for her photography of images hiding in clouds, exhibited in Europe and the USA. Margaret is also a book editor and an advanced meditation teacher in the DaBen/Orin light body/luminous body school. Her twenty-eight books include the coffee table collectible The Hell's Angels Letters-in conjunction with Ron Whitehead (Norfolk Press), the Keep This Quiet! I-IV memoir series, Particle Pinata Poems, Cloud Conversations, and a host of others. In December 2025 she brought out for the first time in the United States Love in Transition: Voyage of Ulysses-Letters to Penelope (Norfolk Press), first published in Romania in 1996.Harrell copy-edited/assistant-edited Hunter S. Thompson's first book, Hell's Angels. Since returning to the United States to live in 2001, she has been a mentor to those wanting to maximize their potential. Before that, she lived in Morocco, Switzerland (studying at the C. G. Jung Institute), and Belgium. She has an MA in contemporary British and American Literature from Columbia University and a BA in history (with Honors and Distinction) from Duke. A sought-after speaker, Harrell is currently in charge of several panels for the 2026 GonzoFest (honoring Hunter S. Thompson) in New York City.