The Gentleman and the Hare
The Mystery of John Layard’s Unpublished Books
John Layard was a Jungian analyst who was once analysed by Jung himself. His most popular book, The Lady of the Hare, includes a case study of a woman who had a strange, unsettling dream concerning a hare. The book also contains a guide to the hare in folklore and mythology. It has much appeal to lovers of hares and is also considered to be a hidden treasure within the Jungian community.
We’ll come back to Layard’s hare book in a while, but first, let’s have a look at the man himself. He was born in the late 1800s and later attended King’s College, Cambridge where he developed an interest in anthropology. In 1914 he traveled to a small islet in Malekula with his mentor, W.H. Rivers. The inhabitants weren’t too keen on outsiders, having killed off a previous missionary. However, Layard quickly gained the natives’ trust, even to the point of being allowed to stay for over a year. He lived in the previous missionary’s house.
Layard was one of the first anthropologists to use the technique of participant observation. Up to this time, anthropologists took more of a lofty, arrogant view of ‘primitive’ people. Some of the practices of the Malekulan people were quite alien to Westerners, involving sacrifice and cannibalism. Other aspects of their culture fascinated Layard, such…
