Carl Gustav Jung: A Biography

This book is an in-depth biography of Carl Gustav Jung, encompassing his private life as well as his scholarly work. It begins with the Jung's ancestors on both his father's and mother's sides, and continues through Jung's death in 1961. McLynn describes Jung's elementary school years, high school, university, and post-graduate training at the Burghoeltzli Mental Hospital. His relationships are treated in great detail, including those with his wife and mistresses, as well as with Freud and other colleagues. Each of his scholarly works is also treated to summary and analysis as it falls into the chronological record of Jung's life. Jung and his contacts left much material behind from which to draw details and anecdotes for this biography, everything from Jung's personal dreams to reactions of notables such as Freud to comments made at dinner parties. I had very little knowledge of Jung (or Freud) before reading this book, but I feel the book has given me a basic familiarity with the man, and with some of his work. McLynn does a decent job of explaining the complex ideas presented in Jung's scholarly works in a manner that is mostly accessible to those with no training in the field. Nevertheless, he does use some terminology (Jung's?) such as "number one" and "number two" when referring to parts of a single person's personality which remain completely unclear to me. This is certainly the least sympathetic biography of any person I have ever read. From McLynn's descriptions, Jung was a self-centered bully and polygamist, to just begin a list of his character flaws. From McLynn's account, I thought these aspects of his character were well-known, but when I tried discussing them with psychologist friends, they were disturbed by my repeating such terms, found frequently in the book. Is it because McLynn overplays negative aspects of Jung's personality, or because there are certain generations of American psychologists who continue to deny that Jung was not an unpleasant man? With nothing else to go on besides this book, I have no way to judge the veracity of the claims myself. But to the uninformed reader, the book seems extremely well-researched, and will give an in-depth introduction into the life of one of the most important academic figures of the Twentieth Century.

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!

McLynn tackles the controversial issues in Jung head on, such as his mistresses and attitude to women,his relationship with Freud,alleged National Socialist sympathies before the War and anti-Semitism.Jung does not always appear in the best light,but McLynn backs his comments with evidence.One-eyed Jungians may not be amused, but this biography presents a wealth of information and should not be missed by anyone interested in Jung.

This book is clearly well researched and quite well written. Overall, however I found that McLynn appears to side with Freud in the personal (and theoretical) struggles between the two giants of Psychology and Personality theory. With regard to personal issues he clearly accepts the fact that Jung had an affair with Sabina Speilrein but dismisses the idea that Freud was intimately involved with Minna Bernays. Even more significantly he plays down the fact that Jung made a major effort to send money to Freud to help him and his family escape from the Nazis in 1938 while Freud NEVER had a kind word for Jung after 1912.