Synopses & Reviews
This book, by eminent Jungian and feminist literary critic Susan Rowland, is the first comprehensive analysis of the significance of Jung's work to the humanities, and even to those complex areas where the humanities and sciences border one another. More radically, it shows that Jung was a writer of myth, alchemy, symbolism, narrative, and poetics, as well as on them. Jung's writing is, in holistic terms, a complex adaptive system that comes alive when realized (made real) in the reader's psyche.
Despite his influence on a remarkable array of artists and thinkers, Jung's ideas have often suffered neglect and misunderstanding. This book goes a long way to making up for that situation. In addition to summarizing his core concepts for the novice, it addresses Jung's sometimes questionable judgment on political and gender issues, demonstrates his past importance and ongoing relevance, and previews some contemporary extensions of the frontiers of Jungian theory.
By penetrating the secrets of the creative psyche, and by exploring the individual's connections with both the natural environment and the social and psychological collective, Jung proves a forerunner of the new holism. His work offers the promise of reconciling the sciences with the arts, humanity with nature.
Review
"With passion and lucidity Susan Rowland surveys the diverse ways in which the recent upsurge in Jungian scholarship in the humanities sees perennial questions of meaning and value. No one is in a better position to do so, given her own distinguished contributions to this development." Don Fredericksen, Professor of Film, Cornell University and chairman, International Association for Jungian Studies
Review
"Rowland has created a comprehensive tour of the vast psychic territory covered by Jung, illuminating to both specialists and lay readers. … [S]he points at what, in Jung, is still valid, and discards what belongs to the prejudices of his time and gender. … Captivating and well written, it is a major contribution to Jungian studies, a book that will become a classic for all students of depth psychology." Ginette Paris, Core Faculty, Muthological Studies Program, Pacifica Graduate Institute, author of Wisdom of the Psyche: Depth Psychology After Neuroscience
Review
"In every chapter Rowland truly 'lets the psyche breathe,' writing gracefully and with economy of motion. She demonstrates how Jung's use of the rhetorical tools of metaphor and pivot create a net-like text that functions as a living symbol, a symbol that initiates the individuation process by causing the reader to 'experience the creative immanence of the imagination.' This insight and many more like it make this a book of great value to the practicing Jungian analyst." Jean Kirsch, Jungian analyst, San Fransisco
Review
"The publication last year of C. G. Jung's Red Book, the extraordinary outpouring of words and images that represents his immersion in the unconscious, has ignited a new interest in his work and its relevance for the 21st century. Susan Rowland, in her new book, C. G. Jung in the Humanities, explores Jung's 'quest to heal modernity by re-balancing the founding myths of consciousness.'" Rinda West, Rain Taxi (Read the entire )
Synopsis
C. G. Jung in the Humanities offers for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the significance of Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung's work to the humanities. By penetrating the secrets of the creative psyche and exploring how the individual fits into the social and psychological collective, Jungs work offers valuable contributions to cultural theory, literature, film and the arts, history, mythology, gender, politics, religious studies and even to the complex areas where the humanities and sciences border one another. As a writer of myth, alchemy, symbolism, narrative and poetics as well as on them, Jung proves a forerunner of the new holism reflected in complexity theory and emergence theory, and offers the promise of reconciling the sciences with the arts, of man with nature.
About the Author
Susan Rowland is professor of English and post-Jungian studies at the University of Greenwich in the United Kingdom. Her work has concentrated on developing Jungian thought for literary theory, gender, and criticism. Her recent books include, Jung as a Writer (Routledge, 2005) and Jung: A Feminist Revision (Polity, 2002). She is the editor of Psyche and the Arts (Routledge, 2008). She has also written a book on British women mystery writers, and articles on myth as the deep form of that genre.