- Hardcover: 623 pages
- Publisher: St Martin's Press; 1st U.S. Ed edition (31 Jan 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312154917
- ISBN-13: 978-0312154912
- Product Dimensions: 24.4 x 16.5 x 4.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,130,847 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
Early in Jung's career he was the admirer and protege of Sigmund Freud, the adopted 'Son' to Freud's 'Father'; then, after their famous quarrel, he became his rival and bitter enemy. Controversial for his right-wing views, his alleged anti-Semitism, and his sexual promiscuity, Jung nonetheless seemed to many a more acceptable icon than Freud, not least because he opposed Freud's atheism and stressed the necessary and overwhelming role of religion in the life of the individual. With the discovery of the universal symbols of the collective unconscious; his explorations of the role of dreams in the journey toward psychic wholeness, his speculations about the true nature of God; his passionate and profound interest in myth and in oriental religion, in alchemy and astrology; his theory of synchronicity, he has begun to emerge as this era's favorite philosopher, the hero and guru of the New Age. His theories on alternative modes of thought have already fascinated generations and continue to appeal to new audiences.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The book explores the difficulties that psychoanalysis had in being born and the effort that was made to make the ideas and concepts survive. This in itself is worth the read. The author manages to weave this into the story as a byproduct of Jung's bio. Many glittering names and insights to them are incorporated within this weave. Jung's sexual exploits are given in a matter of fact way - his relationship to Emma his wife is very revealing of his character and somewhat shocking. Jung's relationship to Freud is given some fair amount of space to set it within the correct context and depth to enable the reader to see the split as inevitable. Jung's more controversial and distinct papers and publications are all well discussed and given definition without being too heavy. There is a real sense that Jung became preoccupied and lost track of scientific evaluation steeping himself into more and more mystical research. The book plays out this idea in the break with Freud with the Psychological Types and shows how petty and acidic the final breakdown was between the "great" men.
Then on an exploration of Jung's life as he becomes more and more absorbed with the collective unconscious, the personal unconscious, archetypes, alchemy, women and the other more impenetrable aspects here concisely developed and arranged in its historical setting. It takes us with him on the travels and meetings he had with elements that made up religious and psychological insights.
My view of the man matured with this book and i came away with i think with a healthier rounded view of him than i went in. He became more human, fleshed out, and therefore more real for me.
The historical atmosphere invoked, the surrounding influences and his preoccupations, his very erratic character, vanity, his women (which has a chapter to itself), his own psychoanalytic school and his deep insight into the realms of the unconscious are all magnetic to anyone interested in his life and works and what a companion this biography is to it all!
The book is singularly on its own in being able to transport the reader without too much jargon but with the best of scholasticism into his world.
I could not put this down - it kept me engaged on all levels - a brilliant mix, a bargain price. Buy it you will not be sorry.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was surprised that McLynn chose to write a biography of Jung as he clearly seemed to dislike his subject and does not exhibit a great deal of understanding of his ideas. I was disappointed by this book as it felt somewhat like a hatchet job. Not recommended.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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14 reviews
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful
A sophisticated hatchet-job
14 Jan 1999
Format:Hardcover
Ok, so the Jungians have done themselves no favors by publishing biographies of Jung that are one-sidedly laudatory. However, the solution is not, in my opinion, to compose counter-biographies that are one-sidedly negative.
After being disappointed with Noll's sensationalist books on Jung, I was hoping that McLynn's biography would be more even-handed. It had, after all, drawn very favorable reviews.
On one hand, thanks to McLynn's efforts, I learned a lot more about Jung than I knew before. However,McLynn's overwhelmingly negative, even petty, evaluation of Jung quickly became both tedious and frustrating as I forced myself to finish it.
If one wishes to know, in exhaustive detail, everything Jung ever did that could expose him to criticism, this book is useful. However, if one wishes to have a complete view of Jung, both positive and negative, this book is extremely misleading.
One source of frustration was the obvious fact that McLynn did not understand Jung's writings, and did not wish to take the time to understand them. It is not enough to dismiss his works as "impenetrable" (a word which, along with "farrago," "besotted," and "emollient," McLynn uses with excruciating frequency.) Lesser minds than McLynn's, such as my own, have managed to "penetrate" Jung's works and found them illuminating.
Another source of frustration was McLynn's penchant for taking gratuitous swipes at almost anyone or anything he finds deficient, as an adjunct to skewering Jung. Why, for example, was it necessary for McLynn to suggest that Jung resembled Physicist Richard Feynmann in having a "taste for the low life." What has Feynmann to do with the issue? What is Feynmann's unstated connection with the "low life"? Why, for another example, does McLynn feel so confident that much of Zen Buddhism is "pure nonsense"?
McLynn's dismissive attitude towards Jung's admirers, particularly his women students, is particularly unconvincing and mean-spirited. McLynn seems to sort them into two categories: mistresses, and would-be mistresses who were notable primarily for their lack of physical attractiveness. As just one example, for McLynn to ridicule Marie-Louise Von Franz as the author of mere incomprehensible gibberish goes beyond the realm of fair comment.
In short, if the reader is seeking a sarcasm-laden, repetitive expose of a famous man, look no further than this volume. However, if you wish truly to know Jung, this book will be a disappointment. An unbiased biography of Carl Jung has yet to be written.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
A well-written polemic
6 July 1998
Format:Hardcover
McLynn pointed a very bright light at Jung, and *gasp* came up with an unflattering picture. Now, I have no problem with this approach, as it reveals fully the humanness of Jung and counters the usual hagiography by Jungians, but why raise the banner of Freud as you are lowering Jung's? McLynn has done a tremendous amount of research and is an excellent writer (his overuse of words, such as "adumbrated" aside), but once I got a whiff of McLynn's pro-Freud agenda, the book became just another salvo in the unending battle between the two camps. I wish McLynn had put his Freudian cards on the table at the beginning of the book.
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
An indispensable sour companion
20 Dec 1999
Format:Hardcover
Anybody interested in Jung should read this book, but read it with a grain of salt. The author is no great admirer of Jung; was this a result of learning so much about him while writing his biography? I do not know, but I am grateful to McLynn for writing a book that has taught me so much about a man who has taught me so much.
That said, let me state that this book can by no means substitute for reading Jung. The brilliance, fire, and life of his writing is almost entirely absent from this book: a great loss.
Also absent are photographs. I would like to see what Jung and Co. looked like at various stages.
So let's put out a new version with photos!
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