Word and Image

Bollingen Series XCVII #2

by C.G. Jung, Aniela Jaffé (Editor)

Beginning with Jung's earliest correspondence to associates of the psychoanalytic period and ending shortly before his death, the 935 letters selected for these two volumes offer a running commentary on his creativity. The recipients of the letters include Mircea Eliade, Sigmund Freud, Esther Harding, James Joyce, Karl Kernyi, Erich Neumann, Maud Oakes, Herbert Read, Upton Sinclair, and Father Victor White.

Genres: Psychology, Biography, Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, Biography Memoir, Nonfiction, Reference

205 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1973

About the author

Carl Gustav Jung (/jʊŋ/; German: [ˈkarl ˈɡʊstaf jʊŋ]), often referred to as C. G. Jung, was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology. Jung proposed and developed the concepts of extraversion and introversion; archetypes, and the collective unconscious. His work has been influential in psychiatry and in the study of religion, philosophy, archeology, anthropology, literature, and related fields. He was a prolific writer, many of whose works were not published until after his death.

The central concept of analytical psychology is individuation—the psychological process of integrating the opposites, including the conscious with the unconscious, while still maintaining their relative autonomy. Jung considered individuation to be the central process of human development.

Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts, including the archetype, the collective unconscious, the complex, and synchronicity. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular psychometric instrument, has been developed from Jung's theory of psychological types.

Though he was a practising clinician and considered himself to be a scientist, much of his life's work was spent exploring tangential areas such as Eastern and Western philosophy, alchemy, astrology, and sociology, as well as literature and the arts. Jung's interest in philosophy and the occult led many to view him as a mystic, although his ambition was to be seen as a man of science. His influence on popular psychology, the "psychologization of religion", spirituality and the New Age movement has been immense.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a profusely illustrated thematic biography of Jung written by one of his followers. Rather too hagiographical, it avoids the touchy aspects of his life such as his infidelities, his sexual relations with at least one patient, his flirtations with folkish race theories before the war and his misidentification of personal case materials. Still, it has its place in the vast literature about C.G. Jung and does introduce some previously unpublished and/or untranslated text.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

While naturally interesting to one committed to reading everything he ever wrote, the C.G. Jung Letters set of two volumes, while beautifully edited and arranged, were disappointing because of their incompleteness. This is only a selection, beginning with letters he wrote in his thirties.

In fact, the Jung preserve is closely guarded. It began with himself. Shortly before his death Jung is reported to have burned a great deal of correspondence. Presumably, much of what was burned were love letters to the accomplished psychiatrist. Since his death, the various persons and institutions constituting the Jungian establishment have maintained a concern with projecting a good image. A selection such as this is likely unrepresentative of the man and of his correspondence.

While it is certainly understandable that there have been reputations to protect and potential libel suits to avoid, it is now almost fifty years since the time of Jung's demise. Few of the principals yet survive. Hopefully, even the "establishment" will come around to reissuing the letters of C.G. Jung in a more acceptable edition.

[Bahman Bahman · Rating 2 out of 5]

یونگ آدم درونگرایی بود. زندگی اش پرحادثه نبود، طوری که حوادث خارجی زندگیاش صرفاً نقاط عطفی به نظر می رسند که سلوک روحی او را به چند پهنه تقسیم می کنند. یونگ وجود خود را به یکسان وقف تجربه های درونی و پدیده های بیرونی کرد ـ و این دو برای او یکی بودند. او در رویدادهای آشکار و پنهان و نیز در رویدادهای بزرگ و کوچک معنایی می جُست. مشخصۀ اصلی اش شوخطبعی، مهربانی و نیز حساسیت زیاد بود. مانند آنتایوس، قهرمان اساطیری، از تماس با طبیعت بود که برای کارهای بزرگش نیرو می گرفت. برج و باروی تنهای خود را بر زمینی ساخته بود که خودش آن را شخم زده، پاک کرده، بذر افشانده و محصولش را درو کرده بود. به حرکات گیاهان و جانوران، باد، ابرها و ستارهها دقت می کرد؛ آتش می ساخت و خوراک می پخت ـ و چه خوراک شگفتانگیزی هم می پخت! هر کس او را در حین این کارها می دید، در جدیت و بازیگوشی اش دَم نشاطبخش و رهانندۀ آفرینش حقیقی را احساس می کرد. بسیاری از نوشته هایش در خلوت روستایی بولینگن شکل می گرفت.

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aniela Jaffé was among the people who best knew Carl Jung. She co-authored his autobiography, but doesn’t exactly condense it here. Naturally, she draws on that narrative, but adds to it with letters to and from intellectual notables, photos of places, family, and colleagues, and annotated plates of Jung’s artwork (at once self-exploratory and symbolic). Not a text-heavy bio, but revealing of the man and his outlook in varied ways.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appear to have reviewed the paperback edition of this book: ISBN 0691018472.

[Mohammad · Rating 3 out of 5]

یونگ رو دوست دارم

این کتاب گزارش گذرایی از زندگی و ابعاد مهم شخصیت یونگ ارائه میده و مصور هم هست

[Axel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of Jung's life, and well accompanying photos, and artwork.

[Paola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quarta di copertina:

"Per gli junghiani questo volume è come un album di famiglia le cui immagini consentono di evocare atmosfere, persone, oggetti, pensieri, luoghi in qualche modo noti. Per gli altri lettori è la migliore esposizione sintetica esistente delle sue idee e della sua vita. Le immagini sono, comunque, un regalo inaspettato per tutti.

La pubblicazione del volume è stata ispirata e resa possibile dall'esposizione commemorativa organizzata nel 1975 dalla città di Zurigo e dal Club psicologico di Jung in occasione del centesimo anniversario della sua nascita. Riccamente illustrato, questo ricordo della vita e dell'opera di Jung consiste in una straordinaria raccolta di documenti, fotografie, riproduzioni di opere figurative, lettere inedite e diari, uniti da brani provenienti dai suoi scritti e da commenti di Aniela Jaffé, per molti anni sua segretaria, collega e discepola.

La forza espressiva, il valore evocativo e documentario di 205 immagini (46 a colori, tra cui 11 dipinti di Jung stesso) conducono il lettore alla conoscenza di Jung sia come persona che come psicologo. È un procedere in ordine cronologico. Gli antenati, gli anni della giovinezza e degli studi, i primi interessi per l'occultismo, il periodo alla clinica Burghölzli, l'amicizia e la rottura con Freud, i viaggi. Il confronto con l'inconscio. Capitoli separati affrontano gli interessi fondamentali dell'età adulta: mandala, alchimia, Paracelso, psicoterapia, traslazione, religione. «Quando ero occupato con le mie fantasie, mi serviva un punto d'appoggio in questo mondo» e, quindi, la famiglia, la casa, la torre. E il momento del congedo.

«Sono soddisfatto dal corso preso dalla mia vita. È stata ricca e mi ha dato tanto. Non mi sono accadute che cose inaspettate. Molto avrebbe potuto essere diverso se io stesso fossi stato diverso. Ma tutto è stato come doveva essere, perché tutto è avvenuto in quanto io sono come sono»."