| Abstract: | In the fictional short story “Uncle Toros,” an aging survivor of the Armenian genocide has a recurring nightmare in which he is visited by an image of a Turkish police chief who would recruit, from Uncle Toros's native village, Armenian youth for the military. This dream is studied in terms of its image of the walnut tree, rotation about it (the alchemical circulatio), elements of Kundalini yoga (especially a blockage in Uncle Toros's throat), the idea of sacrifice (real vs. psychological), and the Jungian archetypes of the collective unconscious. The problem of identification with evil for the Armenian is raised, along with the need for an Auseinandersetzung (confrontation) through the inner experience of the unconscious with its phantom narratives and healing strength of the feminine. |
