Karl Kerényi
Encyclopedia
Classical philology
Classical philology is the study of ancient Greek and classical Latin. Classical philology has been defined as "the careful study of the literary and philosophical texts of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds." Greek and Latin literature and civilization have traditionally been considered...
, one of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
.
Hungary 1897–1943
Károly Kerényi was born in TemesvárTimisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(now Timişoara, Romania) to Hungarian parents. His father’s family was of Swabian peasant descent. Kerényi learnt German as a foreign language at school, and chose it as his language for scientific work. He identified himself with the city of Arad
Arad, Romania
Arad is the capital city of Arad County, in western Romania, in the Crişana region, on the river Mureş.An important industrial center and transportation hub, Arad is also the seat of a Romanian Orthodox archbishop and features two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a training...
, where he attended secondary school, because of its liberal spirits as the city of the 13 martyrs of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848/49
The 13 Martyrs of Arad
The 13 Martyrs of Arad were the thirteen Hungarian rebel honvéd generals who were executed on October 6, 1849 in the city of Arad, Kingdom of Hungary , after the Hungarian Revolution was ended by troops of the Austrian Empire and Imperial Russia, who reestablished Habsburg rule over the area...
. He moved on to studying classical philology at the University of Budapest where he mostly appreciated the teaching of the latinist Géza Némethy as well as of the indogermanist Josef Schmidt. After graduation Kerényi travelled extensively in the Mediterranean region and spent time as visiting student at the Universities of Greifswald, Berlin and Heidelberg, learning from the professors for antiquity and classical philology Eduard Norden, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff was a German Classical Philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature.- Youth :...
and Franz Boll
Franz Boll
Franz Boll was a German scholar. He became Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Heidelberg.He is known for his editorial and biographical work on Claudius Ptolemy. He also wrote on astrology. He is quoted as saying "Astrology wants to be religion and science at the same time; that...
. In 1919 Kerényi earned his doctorate in Budapest with a dissertation on Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
and Longinus
Longinus (literature)
Longinus is the conventional name of the author of the treatise, On the Sublime , a work which focuses on the effect of good writing. Longinus, sometimes referred to as Pseudo-Longinus because his real name is unknown, was a Greek teacher of rhetoric or a literary critic who may have lived in the...
, Investigations in Classical Literary and Aesthetic History. Subsequently he was a secondary school teacher for Greek and Latin. After earning his postdoctoral lecture qualification (habilitation
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest academic qualification a scholar can achieve by his or her own pursuit in several European and Asian countries. Earned after obtaining a research doctorate, such as a PhD, habilitation requires the candidate to write a professorial thesis based on independent...
) in 1927, he was asked in 1934 to become professor for classical philology and ancient history (Griechische und Lateinische Philologie und Alte Geschichte) at the University of Pécs
University of Pécs
The University of Pécs is the Hungarian university with the largest number of students and faculties.-History:...
. In Budapest he continued to lecture as private docent
Privatdozent
Privatdozent or Private lecturer is a title conferred in some European university systems, especially in German-speaking countries, for someone who pursues an academic career and holds all formal qualifications to become a tenured university professor...
on the history of religions, classical literature and mythology, weekly events that were attended by many intellectuals because of their liberal connotations.
After Hungary experienced in 1940 a strong move to the political right
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also the Three-Power Pact, Axis Pact, Three-way Pact or Tripartite Treaty was a pact signed in Berlin, Germany on September 27, 1940, which established the Axis Powers of World War II...
, the University system was reformed submitting itself to political pressure. Professors who didn’t subordinate themselves were concentrated at the University of Szeged
University of Szeged
The University of Szeged is one of Hungary's most distinguished universities, and is among the most prominent higher education institutions in Central Europe...
. Correspondingly, Kerényi was sent in 1941 against his will to the University of Szeged, to teach classical antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
. The liberal, pro-western prime minister Miklós Kállay
Miklós Kállay
Dr. Miklós Kállay de Nagykálló was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary during World War II, from 9 March 1942 to 19 March 1944....
attempted in 1943 to reverse the Nazi-friendly politics of the prior years. He started to send liberal scientists who had already made themselves a name to Western Europe, to show that a liberal, anti-fascist Hungary also existed. As part of this push, the foreign ministry offered to Kerényi to spend a year in Switzerland with diplomatic status. He accepted under the condition that he would stay in Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
, on the shore of Lago Maggiore, instead of the capital Bern. When the Germans entered in Hungary in 1944 and consequently a right-wing government was put in place, Kerényi returned his passport. Like many Hungarians who were residing in Switzerland at the time with diplomatic status, he thereby became overnight a stateless, political refugee.
Switzerland 1943–1973
Since 1941 Károly Kerényi was lecturing at the EranosEranos
Eranos is an intellectual discussion group dedicated to the study of psychology, religion, philosophy and spirituality which has met annually in Switzerland since 1933....
-conferences in Ascona
Ascona
Ascona is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.It is located on the shore of Lake Maggiore.The town is a popular tourist destination, and holds a yearly jazz festival, the Ascona Jazz Festival....
(Switzerland), to which he had been invited by Carl Gustav Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
. This regular contact with the Swiss psychologist had originally established the connection to Switzerland, which ultimately led to the permanent emigration to the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino. During 1946/47 Kerényi lectured on Hungarian language and literature at the University of Basel
University of Basel
The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...
. In 1947 he travelled to Hungary to give his inauguration speech at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
, with the intent of contributing to the democratic development of Hungary. However, due to warnings of the imminent communist overthrow under Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi
Mátyás Rákosi was a Hungarian communist politician. He was born as Mátyás Rosenfeld, in present-day Serbia...
, Kerényi immediately turned around and left Budapest again. During the following Stalinist dictatorship he was discredited and banned by the political propaganda under György Lukács, the leading communist ideologist. His academic title was withdrawn and only as late as 1989 it was reinstated post mortem.
In Switzerland Károly Kerényi wrote and published between 1945 and 1968 the substantial body of his work. Despite the fact that he can be considered an academic outsider, it was during that time that he developed his largest influence as one of the latest representatives of the great tradition of humanistic scholars of antiquity. Over the course of two decades, from 1934 to 1955, Kerényi maintained an active correspondence with the German writer Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
on many topics, including mythology, religion, humanism and psychology. Since his emigration, Kerényi additionally held positions as visiting professor at several universities, including Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
(1955/56), Oslo
University of Oslo
The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...
and Rome (1960), Zurich
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich , located in the city of Zurich, is the largest university in Switzerland, with over 25,000 students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of theology, law, medicine and a new faculty of philosophy....
(1961) and Genoa
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa is one of the largest universities in Italy.Located in Liguria on the Italian Riviera, the university was founded in 1471. It currently has about 40,000 students, 1,800 teaching and research staff and about 1,580 administrative staff.- Campus :The University of Genoa is...
(1964). Between 1960 and 1971 he held annual lectures at conferences of the institute of philosophy of the University of Rome. From 1948 until 1966 Kerényi was co-founder and research director at the C. G. Jung Institute in Küsnacht/Zurich, where he held lectures on mythology until 1962. During these years he lived near the Monte Verità
Monte Verita
Monte Verità is a hill in Ascona , which has served as the site of many different Utopian and cultural events and communities since the beginning of the twentieth century.-History:...
in Ascona. 1962 he received the Swiss citizenship.
Károly Kerényi died on 14 April 1973 in Kilchberg/Zurich and is buried on the cemetery of Ascona. His second wife, Magda Kerényi, dedicated her subsequent life to the maintenance and promotion of Kerényi’s legacy. Since her death in 2004 all documentation of Kerényi’s life (photos, correspondence, manuscripts, etc.) that hadn’t been destroyed in Budapest during the war, are archived and accessible at the German Archive for Literature in Marbach
Marbach am Neckar
Marbach am Neckar is a town on the river Neckar in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The nearest larger cities are Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart ....
(near Stuttgart). His comprehensive library and the estate of Magda Kerényi are at the University of Pécs, where a street has also been named after him.
Philological foundation
In early years Károly Kerényi was mainly influenced by philosophers like SchopenhauerArthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer was a German philosopher known for his pessimism and philosophical clarity. At age 25, he published his doctoral dissertation, On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason, which examined the four separate manifestations of reason in the phenomenal...
, Bachofen
Johann Jakob Bachofen
Johann Jakob Bachofen was a Swiss antiquarian, jurist and anthropologist, professor for Roman law at the University of Basel from 1841 to 1845....
and Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, writers like Hölderlin
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
and Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
, and scholars like Wilhelm von Humboldt
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand Freiherr von Humboldt was a German philosopher, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of Humboldt Universität. He is especially remembered as a linguist who made important contributions to the philosophy of language and to the theory and practice...
. At the time of his studies of classical philology, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
Enno Friedrich Wichard Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff was a German Classical Philologist. Wilamowitz, as he is known in scholarly circles, was a renowned authority on Ancient Greece and its literature.- Youth :...
was internationally the most influential philologist. However, for Kerényi, Erwin Rohde
Erwin Rohde
Erwin Rohde was one of the great German classical scholars of the 19th and early 20th centuries.Rohde was born in Hamburg and was the son of a doctor. Outside of antiquarian circles, Rohde is known today chiefly for his friendship and correspondence with fellow-philologist Friedrich Nietzsche...
’s line of thought on the fictional literature in antiquity was more important. This led to his first book Die griechisch-orientalische Romanliteratur in religionsgeschichtlicher Beleuchtung. Ein Versuch (The Greek-Oriental Romances in the Light of the History of Religions), with which he earned his postdoctoral qualification. Early afterwards, in 1929, Kerényi grew weary of the official scholarly line of philology. He increasingly saw the objective of philology in analyzing the written record of antiquity
Antiquity
Antiquity and ancient may refer to:*any period before the Middle Ages, but still within the period of human history or prehistory...
as a critical representation of real life, just like archeology is dedicated to the record of antiquity through actual touch. The first steps away from the official line were his early books Apollon (a collection of essays) and Die antike Religion (Religion in Antiquity). Throughout his life Kerényi explored every classical site of the entire Mediterranean and in Greece in 1929 he met for the first time Walter F. Otto, who was going to influence him a lot. Otto inspired Kerényi to focus on the religious element of human life in antiquity as the core element, thereby combining the historical with the theological focus
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
. This is highlighted in his works Mythologie der Griechen and Mysterien der Eleusis (Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter).
Dissociation from Wilamowitz and the German idea of myth
Thereafter Károly Kerényi consciously started to distance himself from the philology taught by Wilamowitz. In Kerényi’s understanding Wilamowitz’ approach stood for an authoritarianismAuthoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
that lay beneath the emergence of National Socialism in Germany, which he couldn’t ethically support. Kerényi hence developed an increasingly hostile position towards the German idea of myth, which was used as reference by Nazi-Germany. As early as 1934 he expressed his clear-sighted horror at the radicalizing developments in Germany. It became a continuous objective of Kerényi to establish a liberal and human-psychological idea of myth that could not be abused for nationalistic ideology
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
. This also influenced his position towards several of his scientific mentors. With regards to Wilamowitz this was most pronounced, but later Kerényi also started to distance himself of those aspects in Otto’s and Mann’s understanding of myth that he saw reflected in German nationalism.
Psychological expansion of mythology
Károly Kerényi’s scientific interpretation of the figures of Greek mythology as archetypes of the human soul was in line with the approach of the Swiss psychologist Carl Gustav Jung. Together with Jung he endeavored to establish mythology as a science in its own right. Jung described Kerényi as having "supplied such a wealth of connections [of psychology] with Greek mythology that the cross-fertilization of the two branches of science can no longer be doubted." Kerényi compiled in collaboration with Jung the two editions Das göttliche Kind in mythologischer und psychologischer Beleuchtung (The Myths of the Divine Child) and Das göttliche Mädchen (The Divine Maiden), which were published together under the title Einführung in das Wesen der Mythologie (Essays on a Science of Mythology) in 1941. Kerényi saw the theory of religion as a human and humanistic topic which coined his reputation as humanistHumanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
further. So for him every view of mythology had to be a view of man – and hence theology always had to be at the same time anthropology. In this humanist spirit Kerényi defined himself as philological-historical as well as psychological scholar. In later years Kerényi evolved his psychological interpretation further and replaced the concept of archetypes with one that he labeled ’Urbild’. This became particularly clear in some of his most important publications: Prometheus
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...
as well as especially in Dionysos
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
, likely Kerényi’s most crucial work, which he had started as idea in 1931 and finished writing in 1969. Kerényi hence looked at the appearances in Greek religion not as curiosities, but as expressions of real human experience. As a historian of myth as it was embedded in the details of Hellenic culture, its "characteristic social existence" as he put it, Kerényi opposed his "differentiated thinking about the concrete realities of human life" with the "summary thinking" that represented for him the influence of Sir James Frazer
James Frazer
Sir James George Frazer , was a Scottish social anthropologist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion...
on the study of the peoples of antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
and Greek religion especially.
Kerényi as cultural anthropologist
Not least as a result of his own personal experience, Károly Kerényi highlighted the role of the philologist as interpreter, whereby "the better he interprets, the more he becomes himself the subject, both as receiver as well as messenger. His whole essence and being, his structure and his own experiences, become a factor that cannot be overlooked for interpretation.” In this sense Kerényi’s understanding of science was very modern in 1944. In a time when human sciences were trying to establish themselves as objective-scientific, he recognized that the only means by which to achieve scientific objectiveness, was by disclosing each scholar's own individual subjectivity. Kerényi also anticipated a paradigm shift of the late 20th century, by subscribing to an interdisciplinary approach that combined the subjects of human sciences including literature, art, history, philosophy and religion. The inclusion of fictional writing into his studies of mythology and humanism is also documented by the publications of his correspondence with Thomas Mann and Hermann HesseHermann Hesse
Hermann Hesse was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature...
. Kerényi published a further series of thoughts on European humanism in 1955 with the title Geistiger Weg Europas (Europe’s Intellectual Journey). Among the numerous personalities with whom Kerényi maintained important personal and scholarly interaction were the Hungarian poets László Németh
László Németh
László Németh was a Hungarian dentist, writer, dramatist and essayist. He was born in Nagybánya the son of József Németh and Vilma Gaál . Over the Christmas of 1925, he married Ella Démusz , the daughter of János Démusz, a keeper of a public house. Between 1926 and 1944 they had six daughters, but...
, Antal Szerb
Antal Szerb
Antal Szerb was a noted Hungarian scholar and writer. He is recognized as one of the major Hungarian literary personalities of the 20th century.-Life and work:...
and Pál Gulyás, the psychologist Leopold Szondi
Léopold Szondi
Léopold Szondi was a Hungarian psychiatrist, born in present day Slovakia and raised in a a German and Slovak speaking family. He is known for the psychological tool that bears his name, the Szondi test. He developed a form of depth psychology that had some prominence in Europe in the mid-20th...
, the writer Otto Heuschele and the historian Carl Jacob Burckhardt
Carl Jacob Burckhardt
Carl Jacob Burckhardt was a Swiss diplomat and historian. His career alternated between periods of academic historical research and diplomatic postings; the most prominent of the latter were League of Nations High Commissioner for the Free City of Danzig and President of the International...
. Thanks to his essay-style, Kerényi managed to speak a language that was approachable for many people outside the academic world, but it also meant he remained relatively isolated in academic philology.
In Hungary Károly Kerényi’s scientific achievements remained during his lifetime only known to a small circle of intellectuals. Of all his publications only few have been published in Hungarian. As a prominent member of the former Hungarian intellectual establishment and the bearer of an aristocratic name, he was banished from Hungarian cultural life since the 1940s as being too liberal, first by the right-wing pro-Nazi governments, later by the communist regime. Even though Kerényi was fiercely defended by famous Hungarian writers like Laszlo Németh and Antal Szerb, it took until the 1980s before his complete moral and scholarly rehabilitation took place. The Hungarian writer Antal Szerb has modeled some features of Károly Kerényi into the figure Rudi Waldheim in his novel Reise im Mondlicht (Journey in the Moonlight).
Honors and awards
- 1929: Scholarship at the German Archeological Institute in Athens
- 1931: Medal of Honor of George I of GreeceGeorge I of GreeceGeorge I was King of Greece from 1863 to 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the former king Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers...
- 1946: Baumgarten PrizeBaumgarten PrizeThe Baumgarten Prize was founded by Ferenc Ferdinánd Baumgarten on October 17, 1923. It was awarded every year from 1929 to 1949...
- 1947: Fellowship of the Bollingen FoundationBollingen FoundationThe Bollingen Foundation was an educational foundation set up along the lines of a university press in 1945. It was named for Bollingen Tower, Carl Jung's country home in Bollingen, Switzerland. Funding was provided by Paul Mellon and his wife Mary Conover Mellon...
(maintained until 1973) - 1961: Member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and LettersRoyal Norwegian Society of Sciences and LettersThe Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters is a learned society based in Trondheim, Norway.-History:DKNVS was founded in 1760 by bishop of Nidaros Johan Ernst Gunnerus, headmaster at the Trondheim Cathedral School Gerhard Schøning and Councillor of State Peter Frederik Suhm under the name...
- 1963: Honorary doctorate of the Theological Faculty of the University of Uppsala
- 1969: Goldmedal of the Humboldt Society
- 1970: PirckheimerWillibald PirckheimerWillibald Pirckheimer was a German Renaissance lawyer, author and Renaissance humanist, a wealthy and prominent figure in Nuremberg in the 16th century, and a member of the governing City Council for two periods...
-Ring of the City of NurembergNurembergNuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664... - 1989: Post mortem: Member of the Hungarian Academy of SciencesHungarian Academy of SciencesThe Hungarian Academy of Sciences is the most important and prestigious learned society of Hungary. Its seat is at the bank of the Danube in Budapest.-History:...
- 1990: Széchenyi PrizeSzéchenyi PrizeThe Széchenyi Prize , named after István Széchenyi, is a prize given in Hungary by the state, replacing the former State Prize in 1990 in recognition of those who have made an outstanding contribution to academic life in Hungary.-External links:*...
of the Hungarian Government
Works and publications
First Editions:- Apollon. Studien über antike Religion und Humanität (Apollo: The Wind, the Spirit, and the God) (1937)
- Das ägäische Fest. Die Meergötterszene in Goethes Faust II (1941)
- Der Mythos der Hellenen in Meisterwerken der Münzkunst (1941)
- Einführung in das Wesen der Mythologie (C. G. Jung/Károly Kerényi) (1942)
- Hermes, der Seelenführer (Hermes: Guide of Souls) (1943)
- Mysterien der Kabiren (1944)
- Töchter der Sonne, Betrachtungen über griechische Gottheiten (Goddesses of Sun and Moon) (1944)
- Bachofen und die Zukunft des Humanismus. Mit einem Intermezzo über Nietzsche und Ariadne (1945)
- Die Geburt der Helena samt humanistischen Schriften aus den Jahren 1943–45 (1945)
- Prometheus. Das griechische Mythologem von der menschlichen Existenz (Prometheus: Archetypal Image of Human Existence) (1946)
- Der Göttliche Arzt. Studien über Asklepius und seine Kultstätte (Asklepios: Archetypal Image of the Physician's Existence) (1948')
- Niobe. Neue Studien über Antike Religion und Humanität (1949)
- Mensch und Maske (1949)
- Pythagoras und Orpheus. Präludien zu einer zukünftigen Geschichte der Orphik und des Pythagoreismus (1950)
- Labyrinth-Studien (1950)
- Die Mythologie der Griechen (The Mythology of the Greeks)
- Volume 1: Die Götter- und Menschheitsgeschichten (Gods of the Greeks) (1951)
- Volume 2: Die Heroen der Griechen (The Heroes of the Greeks) [later also published as Heroengeschichten or Heroen-Geschichten] (1958)
- Die Jungfrau und Mutter der griechischen Religion. Eine Studie über Pallas Athene (Athene: Virgin and Mother in Greek Religion) (1952)
- Stunden in Griechenland, Horai Hellenikai (1952)
- Unwillkürliche Kunstreisen. Fahrten im alten Europa 1952 (1954)
- Geistiger Weg Europas: Fünf Vorträge über Freud, Jung, Heidegger, Thomas Mann, Hofmannsthal, Rilke, Homer und Hölderlin, Zürich (1955)
- Umgang mit Göttlichem (1955)
- Griechische Miniaturen (1957)
- Gespräch in Briefen (Mythology and Humanism: The Correspondence of Thomas Mann and Karl Kerényi) (Thomas Mann/Károly Kerényi) (1960)
- Streifzüge eines Hellenisten, Von Homer zu Kazantzakis (1960)
- Prometheus – Die menschliche Existenz in griechischer Deutung (1962)
- Die Mysterien von Eleusis (Eleusis: Archetypal Image of Mother and Daughter) (1962)
- Tessiner Schreibtisch (1963)
- Die Religion der Griechen und Römer (The Religion of the Greeks and Romans) (1963)
- Die Eröffnung des Zugangs zum Mythos (1967)
- Der antike Roman (1971)
- Briefwechsel aus der Nähe (Hermann Hesse/Károly Kerényi) (1972)
- Zeus und Hera. Urbild des Vaters, des Gatten und der Frau (Zeus and Hera: Archetypal Image of Father, Husband and Wife) (1972)
- Oedipus Variations: Studies in Literature and Psychoanalysis (James Hillman/Károly Kerényi) (1991)
Complete Works:
- Complete Works in Individual Volumes, Magda Kerényi (ed.). Eight parts in nine volumes. Langen-Müller, Munich 1966–1988
- Volume 1: Humanistische Seelenforschung (1966)
- Volume 2: Auf Spuren des Mythos (1967)
- Volume 3: Tage- und Wanderbücher 1953–1960 (1969)
- Volume 4: Apollon und Niobe (1980)
- Volume 5: Wege und Weggenossen (2 Bde., 1985 u. 1988)
- Volume 6: (not published)
- Volume 7: Antike Religion (1971)
- Volume 8: Dionysos : Urbild des unzerstörbaren Lebens (1976)
- Complete Works in Individual Volumes, Magda Kerényi (ed.). Five volumes. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1994–1998
- Volume 1: Dionysos : Urbild des unzerstörbaren Lebens (1994)
- Volume 2: Antike Religion (1995)
- Volume 3: Humanistische Seelenforschung (1996)
- Volume 4: Die Mythologie der Griechen (Two volumes, 1997)
- Volume 5: Urbilder der griechischen Religion: Asklepios. Prometheus. Hermes. Und die Mysterien der Kabiren (1998)
Literature
- Magda Kerényi: A Bibliography of C. Kerényi, in Dionysos: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life. Bollingen Series LXV:2, Princeton 1976, pp. 445–474
- Giuseppe Martorana (ed.), Károly Kerényi: La storia delle religioni nella cultura del Novecento, Mythos 7, 1995
- Luciano Arcella (ed.), Károly Kerényi: Incontro con il divino, Roma 1999
- János Gy. Szilágyi (ed.): Mitológia és humanitás. Tanulmányok Kerényi Károly 100. születésnapjára, Budapest 1999
- Renate Schlesier and Roberto Sanchiño Martinez (eds.): Neuhumanismus und Anthropologie des griechischen Mythos. Karl Kerényi im europäischen Kontext des 20. Jahrhunderts (Modern Humanism and Anthropology of the Greek Mythology – Károly Kerényi in the European Context of the 20th Century). (Locarno 2006), ISBN 88-85688-08-X