Dreams (Routledge Classics) (Hardcover)

~ C.G. Jung (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Not the least of Jung's services to his time was his demonstration of how the dreaming process in man, far from being archaic and redundant, was more relevant than ever.' - Laurens van der Post

Product Description

Author, psychiatrist and scholar, painter, world traveler, and above all visionary dreamer, Carl Jung was one of the great figures of the twentieth century. A comprehensive compilation of his work on dreams, this popular book is without parallel. Skillfully weaving a narrative that encompasses all of his major themes - mysticism, religion, culture and symbolism - Jung brings a wealth of allusion to the collection. He identifies such issues as the filmic quality of some dreams, and the differences between 'personal dreams' - dreams that exist on the individual level - and 'big dreams' - dreams that we all experience, that come from the collective unconscious. Dreams provides the perfect introduction to his concepts to those unfamiliar with Jung's work. Perfectly illuminating his user-friendly approach to life, Dreams is the ideal addition to any Jung collection.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (October 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415267404
• ISBN-13: 978-0415267403
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,325,315 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dreams not only as wish fulfilment, April 7, 2003

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

This review is from: Dreams (Paperback)

Carl Jung says he has analysed more than 2.000 dreams per year, a very impressive number by anyone's standards. In his Dreams book, which a very good collection of many of his dreams experiments, he is after demolishing some Freudian's dreams concepts, mainly the one which asserts that the purpose of dreams is to fulfill infantile sexual wishes repressed in the unconscious, which don't find adequate outlet trough conscious activities.
To add content to this dispute, one has only to have in mind that Jung was a very ardent disciple of Freud in the beginning of his career, but the relationship turned sour after 1914 in the figthing for prestige at the foundation of the Psychanalisys in the beginning of the 20th century.
In Jung's view, dreams are not only wish fulfillers, but they are also compensatory vis-a-vis our daily conscious life. So, the purpose of them is to balance our conscious and unconscious life. So, if life is good, dreams are bad and vice-versa. At the end of his life, Jung said in one of his testimonials that by means of a very representative dream he closed a circle, which meant he got a balanced mental life between unconscious and consciousness.

Also, dreams should be taken not as isolated entities, but rather as a series of concatenated manifestations of the unconscious, something which could be represented by the ancient mandalas (Sanscrit for circle) of many peoples from the ancient world (mayas, hindus, polinesians, etc...), where the ultimate end is to attain a balance mind. Jung's theory of the unconscious is, in my opinion, pretty much more attractive than Freud's, specially in what it regards the timelessness of the unconscious and the unconscious collective.

Reading "Dreams" after reading Freud's "Interpretation of Dreams" is a magnificient experience and the winner is surely the reader, who gets the most of two of the most proeminent and polemical psychanalysts of all times.

23 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not only in dreams, April 2, 2002

By	"eserhan" (ISTANBUL, ESENTEPE Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dreams (Paperback)

About God, Jung said, I don't believe, I know.

As soon as you read 'Dreams', you will have a complete sense of his amazing insights, not only on the subject matter, but on the complete human pysche. And this includes, as I tried to hint at from the very beginning, the very meaning of our existence.

Perhaps there would not be a Jung today, if there had not been a Freud preceding him. But a completely ignorant educated man here says, having read them both, that Jung's proposal is far more clever, ellaborate, comprehensive and convincing.

Jung was a unique scholar, he had a very distinctive ability to blend a lot of knowledge from seemingly unrelated areas of science into pyschology. His biography is an essential starting point to understand how he managed to develop this quality, which I think was key to his original thinking.

'Dreams' is a book of rare brilliance. Thanks to Jung, for providing a 'basis' for all things.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars challenging, rewarding, mind- opening., June 22, 2009

By	Michael P. Mccracken "antianaphilo" (NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Dreams (Hardcover)

I'm fairly new to Jung but also quite hooked. This was my first read after working my way through the Viking Portable Jung (which has overlapping material), and I will continue, without question, working my way through his writings (his Collected Works, volumes 6 and 9a will be my next forays). Don't be mistaken into thinking this is any sort of manual of dream interpretation --in fact Jung seems to think that you couldn't do it on your own without at least some training by someone more experienced like an analyst, and a decent knowledge of world mythology. That said, it will be a worthwhile read for any one who is dedicated to thinking about dreams in relation to the self --with the humility of an open mind. Jung's work, or what little I've read, seems to have the capacity to pry one's mind wide open (assuming one is ready --I know I wouldn't have been 5 or 10 years ago, as a graduate student in philosophy at a very analytic program). Do Keep in mind that Jung is not an easy read --especially the wandering and discursive character of his work in alchemical symbols, but it has been, without question, rewarding for me, at least. The more I read of this guy, the more I want to.