Books received

HINSHAW, ROBERT (ed.). The Rock Rabbit and The Rainbow: Laurens van der Post among Friends. Einsiedeln:  Daimon Verlag, 1998. Pp.  393. Hbk. $35.00/£24.95; Pbk. $25.00/£19.95.

Originally conceived as a Festschrift for his ninetieth birthday, this volume of stories, memoirs, poems and tributes expanded under van der Post's and Hinshaw's direction into a celebration not only of van der Post's life, but also of the life of Africa - ancient and modern - and of friendships during most of the twentieth century. The contributors include (amongst many others) Kathleen Raine, Joseph Henderson, Frances Baruch, Aniela Jaffé, Peter Ammann, C.A. Meier, Alan McGlashan, Theodor Abt and, writing after van der Post's death, Nelson Mandela and Mangosuthu Buthelezi. There are also nine contributions from van der Post himself. In his ‘Foreword’ Hinshaw recognizes that van der Post has been both idealized and demonized and he pleads for a broader version of the man, one which sees ‘… the phenomenon “Laurens van der Post” as more of a whole, with brightness and shadow’.

SERRANO, MIGUEL. C. G. Jung and Hermann Hesse: A Record of Two Friendships. Einsiedeln:  Daimon Verlag, 1997. Pp.  137. Pbk. np.

A personal memoir of meetings which certainly shaped - and may have transformed - the life of the author. His relative youth at the time of these meetings, meetings which spanned ten years in the case of Hesse and two years in the case of Jung, is in contrast to the great age of the two men he so admired, both of whom were nearing the end of their lives and both of whom had become semi-recluses. His passion and devotion to them and their work obviously touched Jung and Hesse and there is no reason to doubt that the intensity of Serrano's attachment was returned with warmth and a genuine appreciation of his intuitive grasp of all that was most dear to them in their own life and work. The correspondence between Serrano and both Hesse and, more particularly, Jung reveals as much as th