Carl Jung

Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961), as well as being one of the pioneers of psychology, is one of the most controversial of thinkers: in spite of being largely responsible for the introduction of now-familiar psychological terms such as ‘extrovert’ and ‘introvert’, Jung has often been sidelined, remaining on the fringes of academic discourse. In this new account Paul Bishop reclaims Jung as a major European thinker whose true significance, even now, is not fully appreciated. Taking into account the role of Jung’s recently published Red Book in the progression of his thought, Paul Bishop reassesses this divisive personality, reading Jung not only in terms of his biography, but also in light of his extensive reading and output. Jung once remarked that ‘the tragedies of Goethe’s Faust and Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra . . . mark the first glimmerings of a breakthrough of total experience in our Western hemisphere.’ In this critical biography Bishop takes up this suggestion and engages with Jung’s scholarship in order to offer one of the fullest appreciations yet of his distinctive approach to culture. He finds in Jung’s attempt to synthesize all the different parts of human life an enterprise that marks him out as one of the most important theorists of the twentieth century. Carl Jung provides a clear, compelling examination of the life and thought of a highly influential figure. Concise and accessible, the book is suitable for general readers as well as having much to say to scholars and students of Jung. Bishop provides a striking, fresh interpretation of this complex thinker – and offers reasons why we should appreciate him too.

Paul Bishop holds the William Jacks Chair of Modern Languages at the University of Glasgow and is the author of Reading Goethe at Midlife: Ancient Wisdom, German Classicism, and Jung (2011) and Jung's 'Answer to Job': A Commentary (2002).