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theesotericcamel's review against another edition
4.0
When Jung published this book at the age of 37, he made sure to send Freud a copy of it for him to peruse. It marked a crossroads of sorts in how each would ago about Psychological therapy. Psychoanalysis in Freud’s case, and Analytical Psychology in Jung’s. Jung knew that Freud would not like the references to myths and religion in his works, which Freud felt were psychological security blankets that more mature minds really didn’t need. Throughout the book, Jung argues for their importance in that they seem to hint at universal ideas shared among the human race. He would come to call this The Collective Unconscious in future works. But here in “Symbols of Transformation” we see the seeds of a lot of his major ideas that he would elaborate on over the course of his future works. The manner in which he presents these ideas is also interesting. This book is written as an analysis of an article by American Journalist Miss Miller of her dreams and visions that he saw in “Archives de Psychologie” magazine in Geneva. Jung had never treated this woman himself, and that is why he felt it would make a good case study as he could not be accused of influencing her thinking. What struck Jung about Miss Miller’s fantasies were that a lot of the symbols and ideas seemed to echo ancient ideas of old religions, myths, and legends, which Miss Miller could not have possibly known about herself at the time. Jung also noted that a lot of these fantasies also seemed to echo those of some of his patients suffering from psychosis. All this in turn showed Jung the importance of these symbols, and symbols in general. They serve a purpose both in the myths and legends, as well as in our dreams. Certain symbolical ideas even seem to have a life of their own and can seem independent of their dreamer who sees them. He calls these Archetypes... As you can see this book lays the groundwork for Jung’s theories to come. And this book marks only the beginning of the development of these theories.
The book itself is quite dense. Although the basis of each section is one of Miss Miller’s fantasies, we see Jung go on long but interesting tangents into Manicheanism, Polynesian myths, American and British Literature... Just to name a few. I have to admit that some of the ideas seem far-fetched and as a struggle to link very disparate things together... But overall, the effect is interesting in that he does seem to make a case for universal ideas that all people seem to have subconscious access too. He believes that if we are able to understand these symbols when they arise in our dream, we can learn a lot about ourselves, specifically our subconscious which most tend to be afraid of and ignore. But to become truly integrated we have to find a way to integrate our subconscious into our conscious lives. And symbols can help us through this transformation. It’s not an easy process, and we often have to confront aspects of ourselves that we would rather not. But the rewards of doing so if you are able are psychologically rich indeed.
Much later in his career he was able to go back and re-edit “Symbols of Transformation” expanding on a couple of the ideas and linking the chapters together in a more satisfying way. When he first wrote the book he felt rushed to get the ideas out and he felt the original had suffered for it. Shortly after first writing this book, Jung himself went through a “creative disorder” or psychosis of his own. This experience would greatly inform his later works to come, and helped to confirm, at least to himself, a lot of the ideas laid down in this particular book. It is the later edition that remains in publication today.
The book itself is quite dense. Although the basis of each section is one of Miss Miller’s fantasies, we see Jung go on long but interesting tangents into Manicheanism, Polynesian myths, American and British Literature... Just to name a few. I have to admit that some of the ideas seem far-fetched and as a struggle to link very disparate things together... But overall, the effect is interesting in that he does seem to make a case for universal ideas that all people seem to have subconscious access too. He believes that if we are able to understand these symbols when they arise in our dream, we can learn a lot about ourselves, specifically our subconscious which most tend to be afraid of and ignore. But to become truly integrated we have to find a way to integrate our subconscious into our conscious lives. And symbols can help us through this transformation. It’s not an easy process, and we often have to confront aspects of ourselves that we would rather not. But the rewards of doing so if you are able are psychologically rich indeed.
Much later in his career he was able to go back and re-edit “Symbols of Transformation” expanding on a couple of the ideas and linking the chapters together in a more satisfying way. When he first wrote the book he felt rushed to get the ideas out and he felt the original had suffered for it. Shortly after first writing this book, Jung himself went through a “creative disorder” or psychosis of his own. This experience would greatly inform his later works to come, and helped to confirm, at least to himself, a lot of the ideas laid down in this particular book. It is the later edition that remains in publication today.
henryarmitage's review against another edition
3.0
This is a weighty tome.
This entire book is devoted to the in-depth analysis of a single dream, with lots
of delving into myth and legend.
Consider reading the appendix first...
This entire book is devoted to the in-depth analysis of a single dream, with lots
of delving into myth and legend.
Consider reading the appendix first...
More...