THEORISTS OF MYTH: CARL JUNG

Some Questions To Consider

• Who was Carl Jung?

• What is the idea of the "collective unconscious" and what role does it play in Jung's thought?

• What are archetypes?  Where do they come from?  What are some examples of archetypes?

• What, according to Jung, is myth?

• How would you begin to compare and contrast Jung with Sigmund Freud and how can this pairing be used to better understand the ideas of Jung?

• How useful is Jung as an interpreter of myth?  What does studying myth from a Jungian perspective imply?  What are the strengths and weakness of his theories?

Possible Starting Places

•   Myths-Dreams-Symbols -- Carl Jung:  A concise introduction to Jungian concepts.

• Personality Theories -- Carl Jung, 1875-1961: A good introduction to Jung's life and thought from George Boeree.  See also Boeree's Introduction to C.G. Jung.

• Carl Jung -- Sea Of Faith:  A 17-minute clip from a 1984 BBC series on the response of Christianity to the modern world, the segment highlight Jung and his relationship with Freud.

• Carl Jung -- The Wisdom Of The Dream:  A 3-hour PBS documentary that holds up quite well despite being several decades old.

• Part I -- A Life Of Dreams

• Part 2 -- Inheritance Of Dreams

• Part 3 -- the Wisdom Of The Dream

Web-Sites

•   Carl Jung -- Wikipedia: An entry from the on-line encyclopedia.

•   Psychoanalysis Of Myth:  A comparison of Jung's and Freud's approach to myth drawn from Stefan Stenudd's dissertation on creation myths.  Note that there are nine short pages to click.

• Carl Jung Resources:  See in particular Collective Unconscious; Archetypes; and Jung And Freud.

• Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961): A very concise overview.

• Psychological Approaches To Greek Myths: A brief comparison of the theories of Freud and Jung.

•   For an application of Jungian ideas to the study of world mythology, see the Archive For Research In Archetypal Symbolism and its two book-length publications, an Encyclopedia Of Archetypal Symbolism, Volume One and an Encyclopedia Of Archetypal Symbolism, Volume Two -- The Body.

• Carl Gustav Jung:

• Archetype -- Wikipedia:

• Carl Jung, "Approaching The Unconscious," 1964:  Some reading notes.

• Hero -- Questions And Answers:

• Jung Page: A resource, started by Jungian analyst Don Williams in 1995, that provides educational resources for those interested in the study of Jung.

Articles

• David Carter, "Carl Jung In The Twenty-First Century," Contemporary Review, 293 (Winter 2011): 441-51.

• Robert A. Segal, "Jung's Very Twentieth-Century View Of Myth," Journal Of Analytical Psychology, 48 (November 2003).

• F.X. Charet, "Understanding Jung: Recent Biography And Scholarship," Journal Of Analytical Psychology, 45 (April 2000).

• Erica Good, "Spiritual Questing: Embarked on A Search for Meaning, More and More Americans Are Turning to the Mythic Psychology of the Late Carl Jung," U.S. News and World Report (December 7, 1992).

Jung In The News

• Carl Gustav Jung, New York Times:  An archive of past articles from the New York Times.

• "What Would Carl Jung Make Of 2011?," BBC News Magazine, June 6, 2011.

• Mark Vernon, "Carl Jung: Religion And The Search For Meaning," Guardian, July 18, 2011.

• Adam Phillips, "A Man In Two Minds," Guardian, January 17, 2004.

•   Robin McKee, "Hell, Jung Lovers," Observer, December 28, 2003.

Google Books

• Steven F. Walker, Jung And The Jungians On Myth:  Selections from Google Books of a Routledge publication.

•   Carl Jung et al., Modern Man In Search Of A Soul:

• Deirdre Bair, Jung:

• Robert Steele and Susan Virginia Swinney, Freud And Jung, Conflict Of Interpretation:

• Robert Ellwood, "Carl Gustav Jung And Wotan's Return": A chapter from his book-length study, Politics Of Myth.

Audio And Video Sources

•   "Carl Jung," In Our Time, BBC Radio 4, December 2, 2004:  Click on the Listen To This Edition again button in the left margin.

• Carl Jung, Wisdom Of The Dream, Part I:

Miscellaneous

• World Myth -- Jungian Theory and Its Application: An outline and reading list for a short seminar series by Dr. Roderick Main on Jung and mythology.

• Myths-Dreams-Symbols:  A short anthology of quotations from the 1964 Jung-edited volume Man And His Symbols.

Links

• Carl Gustav Jung: A series of History of Psychology links from the University of Dayton.