On Jung

This is a review of "On Jung" by Anthony Stevens. Before reading this book, I had already read several books on Jung, including Anthony Stevens book in the very short introduction series (VSI). In fact, because I liked the latter, I decided to buy another of his books on Jung. I think it is fair to say that this book is written in the same style as the VSI: it makes rather light reading, avoids too much jargon where possible, but at the same time "On Jung" definitely goes into more depth than the VSI. Which is a good thing because the VSI was meant as a VSI only. "On Jung" has two interwoven pieces of content: first it describes the various stages of life as seen from a Jungian perspective, and simultaneously it gives short biographic sketches of Jung's own life as an illustration of Jung's theory. It will be no surprise that the two are found to fit each other very well. This double format comes across as very didactical to me: each Jungian concept is explained in two different ways so to say. Bottom line: I enjoyed the book, it helped me to better understand Jung's psychology. Perhaps now I even feel prepared enough to start reading some of Jung's own books (which have the reputation of difficult to read)! Recommendation: for readers completely new to Jung, I would recommend a shorter more-introductory text first, e.g. Stevens VSI; "On Jung" is excellent as a second book, for those who already know something on Jung. If you are more interested in a biography, I would defintely recommend Jung's own "Memories, Dreams, Reflections".

The reader is treated to both a concise statement of Carl Gustav Jung's theories of life-stage development and a parallel narrative of Jung's experiences as he moved through each of these stages. Stevens traces the idea of the unconscious from its conception (which he believed to be around 1700) to the earliest investigations by Freud in the 1890s. The split between Freud and Jung (essentially spirituality versus sexuality) is described as having a profoundly shattering effect on Jung, as it had on others ejected from the Freudian camp for their failure to endorse, without question, Freud's theories that all neuroses is based in sexual development. (Two of these ex-Freudians actually committed suicide after being spurned by Freud.) Stevens's unique method of combining a primer of Jung life-stage theory with a biography of Jung is an effective introduction to the man and his work.