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Jung: A Biography - Bair, Deirdre | 9780316159388 | Amazon.com.au | Books

Jung: A Biography Paperback – 9 November 2004
by Deirdre Bair (작가)
4.4 out of 5 stars 43 ratings

This authoritative biography reveals the untold truth about Jung's secret work for the Allies during World War II, his controversial affair with one of his patients, and the contents of his private papers, as well as never before published photos.

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Jung: His Life and Work, a Biographical Memoir
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"A remarkable biography of a remarkable French woman--the high priestess of existentialism and modern feminism. Deirdre Bair writes with an intimacy and vividness unique in modern American biography."

"Deirdre Bair's portrait of Simone de Beauvoir is at once intima entertainingly readable and densely researched. She has amassed a vast amount of information without being tyrannized by it."

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a23
5.0 out of 5 stars Fair picture of the manReviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 June 2011
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Jung is a challenging subject to write about - an individual that splits public and professional opinion and no shortage of acolytes or assassins wanting to whet their own particular angles, plus ongoing and fierce protection of many of his notebooks/archives etc by his family. 've read several other biographies, including Jung's Memories, Dreams, Recollections and found this work immensely engaging and thorough. I felt I was presentad with a vivd picture of Jung with good explanations of the origins and development of encountered (or created) with his professional peers and his personal life. It's not always an attractive picture that emerges, but it does seem fair and balanced. I'd say this is probably the one book you should read if you have a that knowledge about the man (i'd recommend Anthony Stevens "On Jung" if it's his professional theories that interest you)

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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality copyReviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 January 2021
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Poor quality paper therefore not a pleasant book to touch or look at.... Content great so far.
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Erkki-Pekka Kinnunen
5.0 out of 5 stars Magnum opusReviewed in the United Kingdom on 7 February 2014
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An excellent biography, very accurately documented, yet enjoyable to read - great! A rare reading enjoyment, an opus written with expertise and great style

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Sam the Man
2.0 out of 5 stars Print on demand!Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2015
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This is a fine book as regards the actual text; however I want to warn anyone who might order the paperback new from Amazon that what they are selling here is nothing but a crappy print-on-demand copy; the cover and pages are accordingly produced - for instance the photo section contains lines from the computer printer, etc.

9 people found this helpfulReport abuse

Gerard P_Mtl CA
5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic jjob by Deirdre BairReviewed in Canada on 30 October 2019
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Wow!
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===

Jung: A Biography

by Deirdre Bair

4.05 · Rating details · 268 ratings · 29 reviews

This authoritative biography reveals the untold truth about Jung's secret work for the Allies during World War II, his controversial affair with one of his patients, and the contents of his private papers, as well as never before published photos. ...more

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Paperback, 928 pages

Published November 9th 2004 by Back Bay Books (first published 2003)

Original TitleJung: A Biography

ISBN0316159387 (ISBN13: 9780316159388)

Edition LanguageEnglish

CharactersCarl Jung

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Kressel Housman

Aug 19, 2018Kressel Housman rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, non-fiction, psychology

Normally, I don’t write book reviews until after I’ve finished the book, but when a book is over 500 pages long and dense with information, I do status updates as mini-reviews. The things that impress me at the beginning of a book may not be the same at the end, but I don’t want to forget anything. This is a biography of Jung, and I was drawn to it because it addresses Jung’s Nazi past, claiming that he was not a really a Nazi sympathizer, but an American spy. But I’m not up to that part yet. I’m just up to his early life and career.

The first thing that impressed me, aside from the coldness and isolation of Jung’s childhood, is that he had a cousin who claimed to be a medium, and he and other members of his family had seances with her at the helm regularly. The author of the book claims that Helly (the cousin) had a crush on Carl, which I find easy to believe. I was a teenage girl once; that’s what we’re like. But the thought that struck me was one I’d heard in another book I’d heard about recently: namely, that in an era when women weren’t taken seriously when they spoke for themselves, being “possessed” or “speaking in tongues” was an effective way to get heard. (That book is called Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America.) To be clear, I don’t mean that Helly was being deliberately manipulative. She may well have fallen for her own act. Presumably, her older cousin Carl did, too.

Next, I learned about Eugen Bleuler, who ran the most well-reputed psychiatric hospital in Switzerland, the Burgholzi and gave Jung his first medical job. His reputation was far eclipsed by Freud’s and Jung’s, but the book makes him out like a hero. Like R.D. Laing a century later, he lived alongside his patients, he involved them directly in their own care, and also in the running of the facility. It sounded so much like what I’ve read about Kingsley Hall, I wondered if Bleuler was an influence, at least in his democratic or egalitarian approach to treatment, but Bleuler is the one who coined the phrase “schizophrenia,” which Laing said was a myth. I’m going to have to ask Laing’s biographer. I’ve emailed him once before. In any case, to Bleuler’s credit, the reason he didn’t write as voluminously as Freud and Jung is that he was too busy caring for his patients.

The final figure that interested me was Sabina Spielrein. Now, I’d heard of her before – Keira Knightley stars in a biopic about her – but this book gave me more detail. She was Jewish, which of course interested me, and she sounded like Mary Barnes in many ways. In parallel to Helly finding her voice indirectly as a medium, the highly intelligent Sabina got as far as medical school, which made her a pioneer, but she broke down in the process. Well, breaking barriers is taxing. It was her against the world. That’s a hard place to be in. No wonder she fell back into the passive position of patient, but she was willful enough to be a really difficult one at times. I want to read more of her story. There are multiple accounts of it, though. As of now, I have no way of knowing whose opinion to trust.

Well, that’s all for now. I guess I’ll post again in a few days. Be well! (less)

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Erik Graff

Apr 08, 2018Erik Graff rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Jung fans

Recommended to Erik by: Heirloom Books

Shelves: biography

This is a detailed biography of Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytical psychology, not an exposition of his theoretical development. There's a lot of name dropping, particularly of his colleagues, professional acquaintances and analysands, not much insight into his central beliefs. The one notable exception, however, is as regards his attitudes about race, the Jewish 'race' especially, given the allegations that he was anti-Semitic or pro-Nazi.

On the matter of race, and on the equally controversial matter of Jung's adulteries, the author appears to fairly present the evidence behind the arguments without herself adopting a stance except in such cases which are amply documented. Thus while Jung certainly did say and write about such things as a 'racial' unconscious before the war, while emphasizing a 'collective' species-wide unconscious after it, matters he might well have been more careful about with benefit of hindsight, he was certainly not pro-Nazi. Indeed, he was never much interested in or informed about politics beyond the politics within his various psychological/medical associations.

As regards his sex life, the author mentions some of the gossip within the Jungian community but only certifies one affair, that being with his long-term mistress Toni Wolff. In terms of his marriage to Emma, this--including, of course, the rumors--was quite enough, she, the source of his material fortune, being represented as a long-suffering and neglected (as their children appear to have been neglected) wife and, ultimately, colleague.

Not enough treated, in my view, is how important the wealth Emma brought into their marriage was to Jung's life. Although brought up himself in meagre, but respectable, circumstances--his father being a parson and some notable figures appearing in his family tree--Jung entered into the reaches of cosmopolitan elites as he entered into his professional maturity during his thirties. This wealth and those associations allowed him the freedom to go his own way both in his personal and in his professional life, the freedom to represent himself as a very private introvert, on the one hand, while being an extremely public person on the other. This sudden attainment of wealth has likely relevance to his relations with Freud as well as to his personal development and the particular orientation of his psychological practice, implications barely explicated by the author.

This is not the book for anyone interested in analytical psychology. For persons already familiar with it, and with, it may be noted, his pseudo-autobiography 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections', 'Jung' serves as a substantial contribution. (less)

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Aaron Wolfson

Jan 10, 2016Aaron Wolfson rated it really liked it

Recommended to Aaron by: Tim Swisher

A wonderfully thorough and balanced portrait of an immensely complex man. Walt Whitman, with your contradictions and multitudes: Jung is the proof in your pudding. And Deirdre Bair serves that pudding up as a scrumptious and filling dish.

My one major concern with the book is that it doesn't delve as deeply into Jung's psychology as I'd have liked. Perhaps I've been spoiled by recently reading James Gleick's meticulous scientific treatment of Richard Feynman's life (Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman). This book, in contrast, is heavier on the purely biographical details than on the ideas, and there are portions that focus overly on names, dates, and other minutiae.

That said, there are plenty of references in the appropriate places, along with the background behind the theories as Bair mines it. She accomplishes well the primary task of the biographer: to retract the curtain of mystery so we can glimpse the human behind.

For a man with such a thick curtain, Bair presents a breathtaking view. It's important to understand the mortality of great thinkers, especially those with a seemingly immortal aura. For those looking to achieve such an understanding of Jung, this is a place to begin. (less)

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Ladiibbug

Oct 20, 2015Ladiibbug rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: biography

Biography

What a big disappointment. I spent lots of time researching to find the best book about Jung, by the most qualified biographer/writer. Despite the author's sterling credentials, and a wasted week of reading the 640 pages (the rest being notes and an index), for the most part, I still don't have a clue about:

1. Jung's thought processes about "the collective unconscious", how he arrived at his conclusions about introvert/extrovert types, what he thought about an individual's unconscious mind, and so much more of many tidbits I've read about over the years attributed to Jung. It was never made clear in what order Jung arrived at the above major ideas of his, and which theories led him to the next possible theory.

The book made clear Jung was wildly jumbled with his ideas, notes, theories, research into complex topics (alchemy, archetypes, religion, psychic phenomenon), and would, at the drop of a hat, abandon a theory or area of research and take off investigating a different area. Sometimes years or decades would pass before he got back into working on the original theory.

Still, for a book about Jung with no definition of "the collective unconscious", or many of the other major theories attributed to him, is ridiculous.

What the book does provide is a brain-numbingly detailed record of various meetings, none of which gave me one iota of information about Jung.

It was clear that Jung was usually not a very nice person. He was routinely arrogant, proud, lived only for his career and what he wanted to do, with no regard for others. Toward the end of his career, if everyone in a psychological society that he was a member of offered new ideas, Jung would force them out of the group. People had to base their entire idea of psychology using only his own ideas -- nothing more, nothing less.

For decades he was married but carried on an affair with another woman, who came to the house many times per week, while his wife and children were home, to enjoy dinner, or meet with him privately in his office in the home.

Repeated mentions of Jung's lifelong interest in "alleged mystical, mythological and religious underpinnings of his theories" (page 433), along with a lifelong fascination and investigations into alchemy, make me wonder if Jung is the brilliant father of many psychological theories, or just a nut.

Jung claimed to have "visions" and dreams that he would explore to the degree that, to me, made him seem to be unstable at times.

After slogging thru this book, I am no longer interested in reading more about this man or his supposed theories. (less)

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Clif

Dec 06, 2015Clif rated it it was ok

Shelves: biography

I got through it.

A good biography offers insight into the times as well as the subject. This account leaves the man isolated from events. World War 1 passes almost without notice and World War 2 comes and goes without much disturbance beyond problems with the mail and rationing while living a life in isolation in Switzerland. All the while this association or that is being formed around Jung, the leadership of each bickering about the purpose of the group and all hoping to find favor with Jung.

In short, Jung becomes famous, analyzes a great many people only a few of whose cases are described, using a method only touched upon, is adored by the rich and famous who flit back and forth across continents to see him and even pay for him to do the same for them. He then loses interest in individuals, passes analysis on to apt patients, who then sanction their patients to analyze others. The master then wants only to be left to his work on such very questionable things like alchemy, astrology, and UFO's all the while seeking a grand scheme to tie things together. Like Freud he constructs an edifice of his own design that claims to explain how our minds work. Unlike Freud he isn't fixated on sex and childhood mentality. Like Freud he is awed by his own creation. Unlike Freud he is willing to admit modifications to his thoughts, but only if these are framed in a way to make it appear he had the modification in mind first.

You will get chapters of details about who thought what about whom, who was thought to be closest to Jung, how the minutiae of daily life was handled at the homestead. I got excited upon beginning a chapter titled "The Solar Phallus Man" but it went nowhere. A Jung family member would love this book about a famous relative, but I kept wondering why I was reading.

You'll get little about Jung's concepts on psychology. His differences with Freud are mildly interesting but not examined more than briefly. Jung's school of thought, called Analytical Psychology, hangs in the background. We get a vague idea about what a "complex" is, we find out that he pioneered the division of personalities into introverts and extroverts and there is mention of archetypes with no definition of the term. The "collective unconscious" is mentioned many times with no explanation of what it is.

When I finished I felt I had read an account of what I would call The Jung Society - those who fluttered around him, dedicated their lives to him like his wife and Toni Wolff, and a host of eminently forgettable others. Just as when I started, I remain unenlightened on his school of psychology. There are other biographies of Jung. I recommend giving one a try. (less)

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D.S. West

Mar 18, 2012D.S. West rated it liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Budding Jungians and New Agers with an abundance of free time on their hands

Recommended to D.S. by: Jesus

I didn't finish Bair's biography of Jung. My surrender should say nothing about the quality of Bair's research; it's a doozy. I got as far as 300-ish pages before the breadth of names, concepts, and aside biographies (context to help the reader understand Jung's environment) convinced me I'd have to devote more time to finish the book. I'm eager to move on to other texts, so Bair and I will have to part company prematurely.

I "did" get far enough in to see Jung through middle-age. (I would have liked to have moved into his alchemical studies...maybe some other time.) I tracked this award-winning biography down in the hopes that it could reinforce what I read in Jung's own Dreams, Memories, Reflections and provide some measure of the man's shortcomings. Dreams, Memories, Reflections was, even by Jung's admission, a story of his inner-life. It was purposely and admirably one-sided. Bair provides a comprehensive reiteration of Jung's autobiography in modern, untranslated parlance, as well as an outside perspective of who he was, the significance of what he did, and how his (many) contemporaries regarded him. Take Toni Wolff for example. She doesn't figure into Dreams, Memories, Reflections at all; however, Wolff was perhaps closer to Jung than his wife Emma, personally and professionally. She was his mistress and his intellectual partner. Sabina Speilrein too--Bair gives us information Jung was too proud or ashamed to include in his life story.

It's probably a sin to write more than one paragraph about a book you haven't and likely won't finish, so I'm now exiting stage left. Jung is a tremendous biography--I can't imagine organizing a book like this. Bair must be a robot or something. Props, kudos, etc. (less)

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max

Dec 02, 2019max rated it it was ok

Deidre Bair claims in her introduction that her biography will be different because of her unique access to materials via Jung's heirs, who approved of her project. She also claims that as a professional biographer and not a psychologist she has less bias.

While it's true Bair does rather well exposing her materials, her desire to present them objectively overwhelms the project of their interpretation. Jung's thoughts and ideas recede behind clashes of personalities and petty squabbles. Too much attention is given to wartime Zurich, a playground for spies and largely irrelevant intrigue. Bair attempts to defend Jung from the worst accusations of antisemitism and Nazi collaboration, but the facts as she presents them are too ambiguous to make the case decisive. Instead, despite her ministrations, Jung appears to be swept up by his own Germanic pride and unable to publicly apologize for his ugly moments as an early Nazi apologist.

Only those with a scholarly interest in Jung's life need read this book, as anyone looking to better understand his intellectual development would be better served elsewhere. (less)

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Sandy

Aug 30, 2020Sandy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a detailed and thorough writing of Jung’s outer life. I was hoping for some more information into his inner world, but his own writings do that. Jung has been the biggest influence in my life from the therapeutic and personal standpoint. His own life was unfortunately chaotic and complicated but he has provided the world with a clear understanding of the inner workings of the mind, for which I am most grateful. I felt sad to learn of all the conflicts in his own life. He seemed to be most happy when in solitude and I nature. I highly recommend Bair’s book if you have an interest in this great man’s life. If you want to understand his inner life and your own, Jung’s own books are the best choice. (less)

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John

Aug 25, 2017John rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A thoroughly researched and for the most part well written biography. Bair did tend to go too heavily into the machination of the Psychoanalytical Clubs. Her in-depth delving into the politics of the writing and publications of Jung's "so called autobiography" did veer off into the realm of the mind-numbing. Otherwise a very worthwhile read. (less)

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Raul Popescu

Jul 03, 2019Raul Popescu rated it it was amazing

http://www.litero-mania.com/c-g-jung-... (less)

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Elizabeth

Sep 05, 2012Elizabeth rated it really liked it

This is a fascinating look at a complicated man. Deidre Bair has managed to show him as a flawed man whose curiosity helped him create psychology as we know it. His relationships are fraught with difficulty. He is inconsistent and hates criticism. He is constantly searching for the connection between our interior world and the exterior world of both mythology and dreams.

The description of getting "Memories, Dreams, Reflections" published will resonate with anyone who has worked in publishing. The author's wishes, the editors' wishes, the translators...the family. It is a publishing nightmare, yet somehow the book got published. It is certainly the one with which I first became familiar with Jung. Time to read it again. (less)

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Jamie

Mar 12, 2011Jamie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, bio

Bair gives a great exhaustive history of Jung's life, but as a psych-minded person, I wish she would have done more on going into the theories which Jung created and how his personal life lead to the development of the collective unconscious, archetypes, etc. She goes into more detail on Jung's interest in alchemy but mainly as it created and destroyed some of his close relationships. Learning more about Jung and all of his nuances as a very private man who couldn't help but self-promote relentlessly was pretty a great read, but I now want to follow it up with a refresher on his theory and view of humanity in the world. (less)

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Jann

May 12, 2008Jann rated it really liked it

Shelves: biography

It was wonderful to read a comprehensive, objective biography of this amazing man, who was a pioneer in connecting man's pursuit of self-actualization with the spiritual (even though he was afraid of being criticized as "non-scientific" and disguised his beliefs in somewhat ambiguous terminology). I now want to re-read "Memories, Dreams, & Reflections", his autobiography, with more information about his personality.

(less)

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Erin

May 22, 2007Erin rated it it was amazing

If you want to study Jung, I highly recommend this book. It's written by a biographer (not a Jungian) so it's accessible to any reader. I also found it an aid to helping me understand Jung's own writing since it contextualizes and grounds him in world history. (less)

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Bookmarks Magazine

Feb 05, 2009Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Bair, award-winning author of books on Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Ana_

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Lewis

Feb 26, 2015Lewis rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This book is fraught with numerous errors in scholarship.

Many of these error have been noted in Chapter IV of "Jung Stripped Bare-By His Biographers Even" by Sonu Shamdasani.

A few of the errors cited in Footnotes by Shamdasani are:

22. Bair noted that Jung asked Cary Baynes to write his biography in the 1930s, without citing a source (Bair, 2003, p. 585) There is no mention in their correspondence of this.

51. This copy of the protocols was donated by Helen Wolff to Princeton University Press, who in turn donated them to the Library of Congress in 1983, placing a ten year restriction on them. I studied these in 1991, and they have been on open access since 1993. Bair stated that the copy in the Library of Congress, which is in the Bollingen collection, is restricted (2003, p. 657, n. 7). This is actually unrestricted and was moved to a separate collection. The copy at the ETH in Zürich is restricted.

86. Countway ms., CLM; Hull draft translation, LC; Draft translation, BL. During the editing, there was some discussion about one passage in the manuscript. In Hull’s draft translation of Jung’s boyhood fantasy concerning Basle Cathedral, the manuscript reads: “God sits on his golden throne, high above the world, and shits on the cathedral; from under the throne falls an enormous turd falls” (p. 32, LC). In the Countway manuscript, the same passage reads: “God sits on his golden throne, high above the world, and shits on the cathedral [in hand: shits on his church]” (CLM, p. 32). Bair commented that neither Jaffé nor Marianne Niehus would permit Jung to use the word “shit” in this context,

suggesting that it was censored (2003, p. 635). However, the original German typescript reads: “unter dem Thron fällt ein ungeheures Excrement” (“an enormous excrement falls under the throne”) (JA, p. 19). This manuscript is on open access. This correctly reproduces Jung’s handwritten manuscript (Jung family archives, personal communication, Ulrich Hoerni).

93. Adler, 1975, p. 550, tr. mod. Bair described this letter as ‘curious’ and claimed that it indicated power which Marianne and Walther Niehus had (2003, p. 606–607). However, as the documents cited here show, this letter is in consonance with a number of other critical statements by Jung.

101. In the late 1980s, research on the composition of the text was concurrently and independently undertaken by Alan Elms and myself (see Elms 1994 and Shamdasani 1995). Prior to this, the status of the text was unquestioned in the public domain. Bair claimed that the divergences between the English and German editions caused led to speculation concerning censorship between scholars from the moment that the work was published (2003, p. 638). This was simply not the case, as there was no public debate concerning censorship until our research was published. In her footnote, she wrote: “most prominent among them Shamdasani and Elms, who base many of their charges on incomplete evidence and non-objective speculation” (p. 847, n. 69). No evidence is given of this, and Bair does not even provide the reference for anything that I have written on the subject.

102. Jung discussed his relationship with Toni Wolff in the protocols, LC, p. 98, pp. 171–174; see Shamdasani, 1995, pp. 124–125. Bair stated that in the protocols she read, there was no discussion of this (2003, p. 838, n. 61).

122. In 1933, Fordham had gone to Zurich to meet Jung for training, and was turned down, due to the difficulty of foreigners finding work. (Fordham 1993, pp. 67–69). The date of this trip is confirmed by Fordham’s diary (private possession, Max Fordham). Bair misdated this meeting to the early years of the Second World War and claimed that by this time Fordham was angry that Baynes had published an account of his analysis which was too easily recognizable (2003, p. 472). Baynes’ Mythology of the Soul only appeared in 1940. Bair also claimed that until his death, Fordham insisted that he did not resent Jung, and alleged that his “grudge” towards him was as great as that towards Baynes

(ibid.). Over the course of many conversations I held with Fordham between 1988 and 1995, I did not notice any resentment expressed towards Baynes or Jung: his attitude towards them was one of admiration and gratitude.

129. Jung to Read, 17 July 1946, RA. Bair claimed that most of Jung’s correspondence during the Collected Works project was with Hull (2003, p. 582). This is not the case, as Jung had extensive correspondences with Gerhard Adler, Michael Fordham and Herbert Read.

136. 11 May 1955, CMAC, orig. in English. Bair claimed that Jung praised Hull’s translations in all extant statements, and that there is no evidence that he had any reservations about them (2003, p. 583). The citations here indicate that this was not the case. In Hannah’s view, as a “thinking type”, Hull’s translations left out feeling and the irrational. (1976, p. 334). Von Franz noted that Jung’s writings had a double aspect, a logically understandable argument on the one hand, and on the other, the “unconscious” was allowed its say: “the reader . . .finds himself at the same time exposed to the impact of that ‘other voice’, the unconscious, which may either grip or frighten him off. That ‘other voice’ can, among other factors, be heard in Jung’s special way of reviving the original etymological meanings of words and allowing both feeling and imaginative elements to enter into his scientific exposition.” She noted that “unfortunately, this double aspect of Jung’s writings has not been preserved in the monumental English edition of his Collected Works, translated by R. F. C. Hull” (Von Franz, 1972, p. 4). Franz Jung recalled heated discussions between Jung and Hull on issues of translation. He noted that Hull would come to see Jung with a completed translation, and would be unwilling to correct what he had done (personal communication).

159. Jung, CW 5, (1952), pp. 13–14. Bair misdated this episode to 1915 (2003, p. 255).

192. Bair described Barbara Hannah as a lesbian (Bair, 2003, p. 364). Emmanuel Kennedy, Hannah’s literary executor, who has her diaries, stated that this is not true. He also noted that many of Bair’s descriptions of Hannah are derogatory (personal communication).

216. The first to posit that Jung had a “death-wish” against Freud was Freud himself when they met at Bremen in 1909, as an interpretation of Jung’s interest in the corpses recently found there (Jones, 1955, p. 166). Jung commented to Bennet, “I had branded myself, in becoming identified with Freud. Why should I want him to die? I had come to learn. He was not standing in my way: he was in Vienna, I was in Zürich. Freud identified himself with his theory—in this case, his theory of the old man of the tribe whose death every young man must want; the son must want to displace the father. But Freud wasn’t my father!” (Bennet 1961, p. 44). According to Jones, it was at Bremen that Jung was persuaded to have his first alcoholic drink since leaving the Burghölzli, with its teetotal regime (1955, pp. 61, 165). This point is repeated by Paul Roazen (1974, p. 246), McLynn (1996, p. 135), and Bair (2003, p. 161). However, in commenting on Jones’ biography, Jung pointed out to Bennet that this was mistaken, and that he had celebrated leaving the Burghölzli by drinking (Bennet, diary, 18 September, 1959, Bennet papers, ETH).

257. Oeri, 1935, p. 526. A few pages earlier, Bair had actually referred to Oeri’s article, (p. 44). In the protocols of the Zofingia society, the student debating organization which Jung attended, his name is generally given as “Jung vulgo Walze” (Staatsarchiv, Basel).

262. Bair claimed that Jung did not practice hypnosis or believe in its powers (p. 738, n. 84). This is not the case. Volumes 1 to 4 of Jung’s Collected Works present numerous cases of hypnosis and discussions of it. For an account of Jung’s involvement with hypnosis, see Shamdasasni, 2001. In 1913, Jung recalled that he resolved to abandon the use of hypnotic suggestion not because it was inefficacious, but because he did not understand how it cured: “I was resolved to abandon suggestion altogether rather than allow myself to be passively transformed into a miracle-worker” (CW 4, § 582).

263. When Jung visited Freud in March 1909, a loud noise occurred at a critical point in the conversation, which he interpreted parapsychologically as a “catalytic exteriorisation phenonemena”. For Freud’s understanding of this event, see Freud to Jung, 16 April 1909, (McGuire, 1974, p. 218). Bair mistakenly stated that this occurred on their first meeting (p. 117).

269. The Honegger papers are in the archives of the ETH in Zurich. A number of years ago, a copy was given to William McGuire for his personal study. McGuire subsequently deposited them in the Library of Congress. The ETH requested the return of their materials. Bair stated that the Jung estate claimed ownership of the papers (2003, p. 642), which is false (personal communication, Ulrich Hoerni).

272. On this question, see Jung’s discussion of this issue in his 1912 lectures at Fordham University, “Attempt at a portrayal of psychoanalytic theory”, CW 4, §§ 407–457. While Jung was in America on this trip, Bair claimed that Emma Jung wrote to him usually every day (2003, p. 229) and noted that the letters are in the Jung family archive (ibid., p. 723, n. 60). However, there are no letters from Emma Jung to C. G. Jung in 1912 there (personal communication, Andreas Jung).

280. [Bair 2003], p. 246. Bair added that Jung did not respond to Freud’s citation of the letter because of his distress and confusion. The letter cited to Bjerre cited above suggests otherwise.

281. In August 1913, Jung presented a paper in London at the International Medical Congress. Bair erroneously stated that he gave a series of lectures (2003, p. 239). Jung actually gave one lecture, “General aspects of psychoanalysis” (CW 4).

282. Bair argued that Jung’s work began as an attempt to show how myths could be used to explain psychological concepts, which is mistaken (2003, p. 201).The work applied the libido theory to the interpretation of mythological symbols.

283. Bair erroneously claimed that Flournoy gave Jung his translation of Frank Miller’s fantasies with what he had gleaned from her in conversation and correspondence (2003, p. 213). Frank Miller wrote an article in French, to which Flournoy wrote an introduction. Bair also claimed that Frank Miller actually invented her fantasies (p. 214). There is no evidence to support this. On Frank Miller, see Shamdasani, 1990.

284. Bair claimed that in the second part of the work, Jung argued that the sex drive did not have primacy, as other factors were present, such as the archetypes of the collective unconscious (2003, p. 201). This is to confound Jung’s subsequent theories with his arguments in 1912.

289. 27 October 1913, McGuire, 1974, p. 550. Bair noted that Freud informed Maeder that Jung was an anti-Semite, but the reference given is to the Jung’s letter to Freud concerning ‘bona fides’ (p. 240). Freud’s letter to Maeder of 21 September 1913 (LC) contains no reference to anti-semitism. This may be a confusion with Maeder’s statement in his interview with Nameche that he received a letter from Freud in which he wrote, “Maeder, you are an anti-Semite” (CLM, p. 4).

293. Bair claimed that in the protocols, Jung identified this figure as Maria Moltzer (p. 291). Such an explicit identification is not found in the protocols in the Library of Congress. The argument for Moltzer as the woman in question was made by myself (Shamdasani, 1995, p. 129, 1998a, p. 16). If there exists documentation where Jung explicitly made this identification, it should be produced. In the early 1920s, Riklin painted frescos on the ceilings of Amsthaus 1 in Zürich, together with Augusto Giacometti. Bair misdated this to 1912 (p. 223). On Moltzer, see also Shamdasani, 1998b.

296. Protocols, LC, p. 98. In the protocols, there then follows an excerpt of Jung’s discussion of this dream in the 1925 seminar (protocols, pp. 99–100; Jung 1925, pp. 56–57). What Bair cited as Jung’s discussion of this dream in the protocols on p. 727, n. 13 is actually a quotation from this excerpt.

299. Bair claimed that Emma Jung was forbidden to read the Black Books, and that in early 1914, Toni Wolff was the only person to read them. (pp. 249–250). Material in the Jung family archives suggests otherwise, as will be clear when the Red Book is published. Bair also reported that Jung “drew” in the Black Books, which was generally not the case.

300. Information from Andreas Jung. Bair erroneously claimed that he was away more than he was at home that year (p. 248).

301. Bair erroneously noted that these dreams contain “yellow flood” and “dark red blood” (2003, p. 243). Neither in Memories, nor in the Black Books are these motifs to be found.

309. [Bair 2002] Ibid., p. 292. Bair also stated that the figure of Philemon led Jung to study Gnosticism (p. 396). However, Jung’s reading notes (JA) and references in

Transformations and Symbols of the Libido indicate that he started studying Gnosticism in 1910. Bair reproduced a photograph of Jung’s mural of Philemon together with his a mural of a mandala and stated that they are on the wall of his “private room” in his tower at Bollingen (facing p. 370). Actually, they are in separate bedrooms.

316. Bair, 2003, p. 297. Bair claimed that the Sermones followed the style and subject matter of the works of G. R. S Mead, and that Jung was studying sixteen or eighteen volumes of Mead’s work at this time (p. 296). The first statement is mistaken. No source is given for the second, and no evidence exists to support it.

331. Bair claimed that the only member of the Club who declined was Fanny Bowditch Katz. In actuality, between half and two-thirds of the membership responded.

335. I wrote: “these points strongly suggest that ‘Analytical collectivity’ was actually written by Moltzer. Whilst this is not definitively proved, the balance of the evidence clearly points in this direction” (Shamdasani, 1998a, p. 72). “We have seen that no positive corroborative evidence has arisen to indicate that ‘Analytical collectivity’ was by Jung, and that sufficient evidence exists to refute the claim that Jung was the author, beyond all reasonable doubt” (p. 84).

338. Archives, Psychological Club, Zürich. Riklin made no reference to Harold McCormick’s letter.

339. Moltzer resigned from the Club in 1918. Bair claimed that she subsequently returned to Holland for the rest of her life (p. 259). She actually remained in Switzerland, and lived at 198 Zollikerstrasse, Zollikerberg. She was buried in Zollikon cemetery.

345. Bair stated that the account in Memories was evidently pieced together from what Jung said about Taos in various passages in the Collected Works (p. 762, n. 40). Actually, it was excerpted from the manuscript, “African Voyage”. It is explicitly stated in Memories that the section is an “extract from an unpublished manuscript” (1962, p. 274). On this ms., see Shamdasani, 2003, pp. 323–328.

350. Jung/Jaffé 1962, p. 303. The sentence in German actually reads: “That the air had become too thick for me in Europe.”

352. Bair claimed that the Psychological Club wanted a further seminar based on Jung’s experiences (2003, p. 357). Such a request was not noted in the Club minutes. Bair also claimed that Jung received requests for new writings and translations “every day” (ibid.). I have made a comprehensive study of Jung’s correspondences in the 1920s, and this is simply not the case.

356. After his Africa trip, Bair referred to Jung’s annual month of military service (pp. 361–362). However, after the First World War, Jung was only on military service twice—for five days in 1923 and 1927 (personal communication, Andreas Jung).

357. Bair, 2003, p. 395. Concerning Jung’s religious attitudes, Bair stated that Jung once described himself as a “Christian-minded agnostic” (p. 127). The phrase comes from a letter Jung which wrote to Eugene Rolfe on 19 November 1960, in response to Rolfe’s book, The Intelligent Agnostic’s Introduction to Christianity. Jung wrote: “you have fulfilled your task of demonstrating the approach to Christianity to a Christian-minded agnostic” (Adler, 1975, p. 610). The phrase is not a self-description, but refers to the intended reader of Rolfe’s book. On Rolfe’s correspondence with Jung concerning his book, see Rolfe, 1989, p. 130f.

359. Bair claimed that the first results of Jung’s research into alchemy was The Psychology of the Transference in 1946 (p. 526). This was actually preceded by “Dream symbols of the individuation process” (1936), “The process of redemption in alchemy” (1937), “Some remarks on the visions of Zosimos” (1938), “The spirit Mercurius” (1943), Psychology and Alchemy (1944), “The enigma of Bologna” (1945) and “The philosophical tree” (1945).

360. “Ueber Alchemie”, Library of the Psychological Club, Zürich. Reichstein later won the Nobel prize for Chemistry.

361. Toni Wolff, (1946). A similar point is made by Hayman, who cites this article (1999, p. 288). We may also note that Toni Wolff’s paper, “Christianity within,” took its point of departure from Jung’s Psychology and Alchemy (in Wolff, 1959).

362. Bair, 2003, p. 434. On Jung’s collaboration with Hauer, see my introduction to Jung, 1932.

366. Bair, 2003, p. 469. This is an example of what Richard Ellmann referred to in his review of Bair’s Beckett biography as the way in which Bair “hangs on to wrong views even while amassing information that discredits them” (Ellmann, 1978, p. 236).

367. Bair, 2003, p 750, n. 36. Bair noted that Jung abandoned this term and referred to his work as “analytical psychology”. The reverse is actually the case.

372. There has been a great deal of mythology written concerning Sabina Spielrien and Jung’s relation with her. For correctives, see Angela Graf-Nold (2001), Zvi Lothane (1999), and Fernando Vidal (2001).

373. Jung, 1930–1934, p. 3. Bair suggested that the reason why Jung may have chosen to discuss Morgan’s work was because it would offer an opportunity for triangular relations between the participants to be worked out on a neutral terrain, which is quite implausible. She claimed that the lectures paralleled Jung’s “strong attraction” towards Morgan, but does not provide sufficient evidence for this (Bair, 2003, p. 391).

374. Douglas 1993, p. 167. There is no indication of an affair between Jung and Morgan in Forrest Robinson’s biography of Henry Murray (1992), which is based on extensive interviews with Murray.

379. Bair erroneously stated that there was no such gossip during the course of the seminars, while also claiming that Jung betrayed Morgan’s privacy, as she could be recognized (2003, p. 391).

386. On Bair’s errors in her treatment of Jung’s relationship to Victor White, see Ann Lammers, 2004.

Reader of this book: Proceed with Caution.

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