The Dance of Reality

An autobiographical work by an octogenarian, The Dance of Reality begs to be read as a culminating work . . . * Los Angeles Times * His films El Topo and The Holy Mountain were trippy, perverse, and blasphemous. * Wall Street Journal * . . . The Dance of Reality [film is] a trippy but bighearted reimagining of the young Alejandros unhappy childhood in a Chilean town . . . * New York Times Magazine * Beginning his unorthodox autobiography in Chile, where he grew up as the child of Russian Jews in exile, writer and filmmaker Jodorowsky sketches the squalor and desperation of his birthplace. It's here that the foundations of his spiritual liberation are laid in opposition to the violent deaths and poverty that surround him, as well as the brutal sadism of his father. His artistic pursuits from poetry to dance to theater, are also the pursuit of mystical understanding. As with his films (El Topo, The Holy Mountain), his style is vivid and dramatic, rich with symbolism. While his narrative concentrates on relatively few events, by this editing and highlighting he creates a tapestry that is both linear and complex. The author manages to craft scenes of intense surrealism while never losing sight of the human experiences of love, loss, fear, and wonder. The final chapters focus on how his ideas about creativity that he calls "psychomagic" can be actualized; for him, art is a means of freedom from what he calls 'the prison of the rational.' * Publishers Weekly, July 2014 *

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a filmmaker who made the legendary cult films El Topo and The Holy Mountain. His most recent film, The Dance of Reality, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. He is the author of more than 20 books, including Psychomagic, The Way of Tarot, and Metagenealogy. He lives in Paris.

One Childhood Two The Dark Years Three First Acts Four The Poetic Act Five Theater as Religion Six The Endless Dream Seven Magicians, Masters, Shamans, and Charlatans Eight From Magic to Psychomagic Nine From Psychomagic to Psychoshamanism Appendix I Psychomagical Acts Transcribed by Marianne Costa Appendix II Brief Psychomagical Correspondence Index About Jodorowsky and The Dance of Reality Film