The Wounded Jung: Effects of Jung's Relationships on His Life and Work

Jung, an avatar of psychic wholeness, was, as Smith says here, of two minds. Unfortunately, Smith's book isn't well-integrated either, reviewing literature in scholarly journals on one hand, defining ""collective unconscious"" on the other. In the first part, Smith traces Jung's divided self from his relationships with his contradictory, divided mother and his weak father; his filial feelings toward Freud and the schism that brought on the period of creative crisis; and finally to his relations with women, where the divide was reflected in his parallel relationships with his wife, Emma, and patient/collaborator, Toni Wolff. The analyses of the relationships are often very short (Emma warrants only a few paragraphs), and Smith relies too heavily on Jung's Memories, Dreams, Reflections for his portrayal of Jung's early life without adequately acknowledging that while childhood may illuminate later theories, those theories can also color memory. It is in the second section that Smith, a philosopher and historian of religion, makes his greatest contribution by going beyond the more obvious divides inherent in anima/animus or enantiodromia (a tendency toward opposite), to make subtle observations on Jung's resolution of metaphysics with empiricism; on the impact of other divided souls like Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Goethe; on his often contradictory feelings on the role of the church and religion in finding psychic wholeness. For selective readers already somewhat familiar with the Jung literature, this book will provide valuable insights. (May)