Sanjidah
Format: Kindle edition, 192 pages
Published: 1 August 2024 by Arcturus
Genres: Biography, psychology
This fascinating biography follows the life of one of the most extraordinary psychologists of modern times, Carl Jung, and the incredible impact he made on our understanding of the human mind.
Author Lily Yuan takes us on a journey through Jung’s life, beginning with the formative years of his childhood through his tumultuous relationship with fellow psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to his travels across the world in his later years. Jung developed such innovative ideas as extraversion and introversion, the shadow, and synchronicity; created a range of stunning works of art, and his legacy can be seen all around us in the music we listen to, the stories we read and the movies we watch.
With clear explanations of his groundbreaking ideas and insights into Jung’s unique personality, this is a compelling introduction to one of the great minds of the 20th century.
A copy of this book was given in exchange for an honest review.
As the blurb says, this biography really is interesting! Carl Jung was hugely influential in our understanding of psychoanalysis as it is today, and this book also explores his reach outside of the field of psychoanalysis as well, a careful analysis which is interesting to read.
In 1945, Jung wrote extensively on the shadow, which is ‘the thing a person has no wish to be’. Each person can choose to confront their personal shadow and emerge on the other end of understanding with inner peace, or choose to ignore it. The shadow self, nestled in the unconscious, is often ridden with intense feelings of guilt and shame.
The book is structured in an immersive way. It explores Jung’s life through broad categories that he himself developed and worked within, namely: childhood, youth, middle life and old age. This book helps to really bring to life Jung’s work both through the structure and the breadth of work explored. As a consequence, perhaps, there is a lack of depth in some parts. For example, Jung’s personal life is only really explored fleetingly in parts.
As Jung proudly announced to the world: ‘The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.’ We all have the opportunity to shine a light on our shadows and accept all parts of ourselves as valid and important. Imagine how chaotic and self-destructive a society would be if every person shared the same personality preferences!
There were parts of the biography I already knew as a psychodynamic psychotherapist and as someone who was once interested in becoming a Jungian Analyst, and there were also parts I was astonished to find out about. The biography, naturally, feels biased in parts, and there are some parts I feel conflict with my prior knowledge of Jung and analytical psychology. If you are already familiar with Jung, this book will help to complement your knowledge; if you are unfamiliar with Jung and psychoanalysis, the book does give a good introduction, but it might also be helpful to read around the subject as well.
