The Freud/Jung Letters [ABRIDGED] (Paperback)

by Sigmund Freud (Author), C. G. Jung (Author), William McGuire (Editor), R. F.C. Hull (Translator), Ralph Manheim (Translator) "I am sincerely sorry that I of all people must be such a nuisance to you..." (more)
Key Phrases: libido paper, sexual complex, libido theory, Professor Freud, Jung Letters, Küsnacht Zurich (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
The relationship between Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung had its bright beginning in 1906 and came to its embittered end in 1913. Its disastrous course was charted by the many letters the two men wrote each other.... In 1970 the Freud and Jung families made the enlightened decision that this correspondence was to be edited as a unit and published.... In no way does it disappoint the large expectation it has naturally aroused. Both as it bears upon the personal lives of the men between whom the letters passed and upon the intellectual history of our epoch, it is a document of inestimable importance. -- Review

Review
The relationship between Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung had its bright beginning in 1906 and came to its embittered end in 1913. Its disastrous course was charted by the many letters the two men wrote each other.... In 1970 the Freud and Jung families made the enlightened decision that this correspondence was to be edited as a unit and published.... In no way does it disappoint the large expectation it has naturally aroused. Both as it bears upon the personal lives of the men between whom the letters passed and upon the intellectual history of our epoch, it is a document of inestimable importance.
(Lionel Trilling The New York Times Book Review )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; Abridged edition (July 11, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691036438
• ISBN-13: 978-0691036434
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #547,372 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Archetypal splitting, June 6, 2006

By	Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Freud/Jung Letters (Hardcover)

This is an amazing collection of letters which depict the relationship of two of the greatest psychologists of all time. Naturally, there are people who interpret this relationship in different ways, especially as a very specific situation, peculiar to the development of psychology or otherwise. I think otherwise. Life is rarely linear--it's usually Normally Distributed. Things tend to go in cycles, not straight lines. The relationship between Freud the mentor & Jung the mentee is just not that unusual. In fact, it parallels that of every child (especially males stereotypically seeking independence). There comes a time to leave the nest & for the mentee to strike out on his own--just as there is a time for a new paradigm (per Thomas Kuhn's classic, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"). This is precisely what occurred between Freud & Jung. It's almost archetypal. There's even something of a parallel between Jung & Father Victor White in Jung's "Letters." This book has some interesting quotes from each of the two psychologists:

By Freud:
p. 119 Take my urgent advice, arm yourself with ill temper against all unreasonable demands.
p. 121 One must try to learn something from every experience.
p. 169 I have long known that one can't change people. Everyone has something worthwhile in him. We must content ourselves with getting it out of him.

By Jung:
p. 84 What people don't know surpasses the imagination, and what they don't want to know is simply unbelievable.
p. 157 one likes human beings around one and not complex-masks.

And, very apropos: p. 462 Emma Jung: it is always the nearest thing that one sees worst.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inside view of two brilliant minds, May 12, 2007

By	Diane DeArmond "Psychologist" (Connecticut) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I loved this book mostly because I have been fascinated by Freud for many years and now I am studying Jung. To have the privilege of reading their letter back and forth is a treat. Also there are insights into current problems that Psychology still grapples over.

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fight of Titans for primacy in the field of Psychanalisys., April 22, 2003

By	Roberto P. De Ferraz "ferraz9" (Sao Paulo, Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a sad book to read. In fact, one would not expect that such a type of bad development would occur between the two most important figures of psychoanalisys. It is as if Marx and Engels had broken their friendship for life and began to fight for fame and glory in front of everybody. The spoil was huge: nothing more than the primacy for fame and glory in the first steps of psychanalisys.

Sure, the letters span a pretty much limited space of time of no more than 8 years (1906-1914) but the reader has to keep in mind that what was at stake was the establishing of the foundations of psychoanalisys all over Europe and also in the whole World.
What began as a cordial friendship and evolved into an almost father (Freud) to son (Jung) relationship, deteriorated into the most depressive fighting of personal primacy on many subjects. In this regard, it seems that the feud was initiated by Freud who considered Jung a type of his personal assistant to market the developments of his findings
THe fact that this is a abridged edition does not mean nothing except that here the common reader will find the most important material exchanged by the two great men and will be saved from some meaningless material of more burocratical tone.
Also of value is the introduction that ilustrates all the effort made by the two family sides to publish the letters, in spite the view by Jung that the ideal time for them to be published would be 20 to 30 years after his death.

THis is a must reading for anyone interested in the history of psychanalisys.