Jung: A Biography

I have been reading Jung since the 1980's. The Jungian Institute is just down the street from my office. I used to talk to Mrs. Lori Zeller all the time-a shrewd, to the point, fun and caring individual. Her husband was Max Zeller. Both studied with Jung. I have talked to people at the Institute about it and one response hit me-"it covers all the questions. I may not agree but it hits the questions." What struck me was there was a new comprehensiveness. For example the struggle over how to publish Memories, Dreams, and Reflections. I never knew about the Red Book until now. I laughed at the episode of the Harvard Degree. His remarks of how Americans and the British differ were on target. It's a good guide for the background behind each of his important books. A good framework. I think it explained well the controversy that accompanies Jung. This is a much needed biography that supplies a new dimension from which to read Jung's books. To me it's comprehensive. It's rich. I have just read two other psychological biographies-one on Otto Rank-Acts of Will by Lieberman, and one on Harry Stack Sullivan. I have also take Progof's Journal Workshop. All these people are interrelated. Funny, Deidre Bair wrote a biography of Anais Nin-one of Otto Rank's girlfriends. Progof asked Jung about Rank three times and Jung wouldn't answer. The index is a great reference. My thesis is that you can't really understand a person and their ideas until you read a good biography of the person. This is that biography. A great jumping off point. This is a biography with a lot of new information breaching a lot of the Swiss penchant for privacy. Finally. Ted Humphreville-Los Angeles

I agree with Louis Jaffe, that this a great contribution to anunderstanding of Jung. Here is no 'saint', but in an strange andwonderful way, the man emerges despite all the shadows, as the rich, profound and complex man we have come to know. Bair startsout rather unsure of her subject's "likeableness", yet by the end of the story, she grows in respect for this great man, despite her intense objectivity (unlike the review of the NewYork Times, or Publishers Weekly, which says more about the reviewrs' agenda, than it does about Jung!) In this regard, she is a master of fairness, incredible research and new information; and even his very-'Swissness', (which is not always positive) sheds new light on his psychic backgound. Like all circles around agreat personality, the infighting islegendary, and gives a fascinating insiders view. Her detail isamazing, and sometimes threatens to overwhelm the reader, but those who persist will be amply rewarded.

I picked up Deirdre Bair's book "Jung: A Biography" because of my long held interest in 20th century European history, particularly the halcyon years before World War I. Certainly Carl Gustav Jung made a significant impact on European intellectual culture over is long life (1875-1961). Our very language is enriched by terms derived from his work: "archetype", "collective unconscious", "introvert" and "anima". The impact of psychoanalysis extended so far beyond the clinical interpretation and treatment of mental disorders that by 1935 "Politicians were being psychoanalyzed by reporters in the daily newspapers, the literary world was entranced with the possibilities the new science offered for individual creativity, and critics in every field were busy applying and misapplying its doctrines to many disparate genres and disciplines".Deirdre Bair's book is masterful historical biography. Anyone with a serious interest in the evolution of psychological theory, treatment, and philosophy will benefit from this work. She explains the man and the people around him, his peers - particularly his relationship with Sigmund Freud -- , his travels, and professional activities. The book is monumentally detailed as evidenced by the 200 pages of notes and is a great source for understanding the publication and translation issues in bringing his major works to publication. The World War II period was particularly interesting, when Jung who was suspected as a Swiss German of being a Nazi sympathizer, actually was providing analysis of the German leadership to Allen Dulles.

Some have knocked this latest bio of C.G. Jung for not explicating his philosophy. But that is precisely one of its strengths! There are innumerable books that try to explain Jung's thought. Bair's focus is on Jung's life, told objectively, with particular attention to the many controversies about him that persist to this day. She doesn't flinch from such tough issues as his rumored womanizing or his alleged support for the Nazis. (On which point she reveals, among other surprises, that Jung actually worked as a special agent for the U.S. in Switzerland during WWII, reporting to Allen Dulles, future head of the CIA.) Unlike such writers as Richard Noll in "The Jung Cult," her goal isn't to vilify her subject. Ultimately she pictures a man who was far from perfect but deserved his place among the great thinkers. A must for anyone interested in Jung.

It might be expected that Bair, the author of two feminist biographies (Anais Nin and Simone de Beauvoir) would have an interesting take on the women in Carl Jung's life. And it is these portraits of Jung's mother, the "strange and mysterious Emilie, his wife, Emma, patient and mistress Toni Wolff, therapist and OSS spy, Mary Bancroft , and his American patient and publisher, Mary Mellon, that Bair excels. In addition, Bair has mined the archives to give a fair-minded appraisal of Jung's complex and compromising relation to the Nazis and, above all, what it meant for Jung to be Swiss. Jung was a complicated man and this is a compelling book. This will be the definite biography for years to come.