Psychology of the Unconscious: A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. (Hardcover)

~ C. G. Jung (Author), Beatrice M. Hinkle (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Breaking from Freud by allowing for nonsexual psychic forces driving the libido, Carl Jung made a more lasting name for himself than did his mentor. Psychology of the Unconscious is a prodigious leap away from Freud's dictatorial constraints, exploring the mythic aspects of our interior lives in exquisite detail. While he sometimes sacrifices readability for erudition, this is no failing for the interested student, who strives to follow Jung as he moves from Norse mythology to Shakespeare to Sanskrit etymology quickly but seamlessly. Focusing in particular on the vivid dream and fantasy life of "Miss Miller," he often uses her words as a kind of airstrip from which to take off on his own flights of imagination, always careful to stay focused on analysis and understanding and limited only by his exhaustive knowledge.

Having demonstrated to his own satisfaction that the libido (the energy of the unconscious) transcends sex, Jung sets about showing the reader how it is so. Never denying Freud's crucial insights into sexual history and fantasies, he goes beyond them to tell a story prefiguring mythicists like Joseph Campbell's. The libido becomes a hero, escaping from confinement, having multifarious adventures in the world, but always returning to the source of its power--the unconscious--in dreams and imagination. This powerful, elastic theory is still in use today, and Jung's Psychology of the Unconscious deservedly takes its place among those books that have most greatly influenced the way we think about ourselves. --Rob Lightner

Review

Jung is readable in this first exciting bloom of his extraordinary journey into the unconscious. -- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 472 pages
• Publisher: Bollingen Foundation (April 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691099731
• ISBN-13: 978-0691099736
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.8 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #620,364 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Jung, October 24, 2009

By	Craig R. Clark - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Psychology of the Unconscious (Dover Value Editions) (Paperback)

This book is a must for anyone who wants to know more about Jung. The poetry and mythology are actually more interesting than the psychology. Jung was a brave trail blazer going boldly where no man had gone before. Yet he makes too much of the Oedipus story and this is more Freud's fault than Jung's. To associate the Oedipus drama, a purely fictional creation, with Western theology is a pretty warped idea. If you can filter out the Jungian sexual obsessions, it is a pretty thought provoking work.

5.0 out of 5 stars aka Collected Works 5, Symbols of Transformation, September 17, 2009

By	Scroll2b - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychology of the Unconscious (Dover Value Editions) (Paperback)

From Volume 19 of the Collected Works, General Bibliography: "Entire work pub., rev. and expanded, in a dif. trans. with change of title, as CW 5."

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars profound , April 15, 2005

By	A. Freyer "sddffr" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is an extraordinary group of essays. changed my perception of the psyche forever.