As a fan of the theories of Carl Jung, I very much appreciate the way Christopher Booker (The Seven Basic Plots) and Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Women Who Run with the Wolves) take a Jungian view on storytelling. In essence, their thesis is that stories are a blueprint for life, showing us the many paths – some more challenging than others – our lives may take when we make certain choices.
Being an editor of anthologies as well as a writer, I agonized over the approach I should take for my own personal anthology, worrying over how to compile the “perfect” list. Of course, though, there is no such thing as “perfect” in literature, there is only “done”, so in the end I went with stories that have, at some time or other, deeply moved me. And when I eventually compiled my list, I saw that all the stories were either about stasis or transformation – two situations in life that are diametrically opposed to one another. I think I’m particularly drawn to these kinds of stories because I view them as a kind of test of my psyche. If placed in the same situation, would I be content to live in a state of stasis? Or would I be psychically strong enough to go on a journey of rebirth? I hope these stories invite you to ask the same of yourself.
A Personal Anthology 