|
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
what a ride!, 13 Sep 2004
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.
|
by C.G. Jung
by C.G. Jung
by Carl Gustav Jung
by C.G. Jung
With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is). 
Make sure you always get what you want with an Amazon.co.uk 
Amazon Home