A life of Jung

More about the book

In A Life of Jung, Ronald Hayman neither ignores Jung's faults nor exaggerates them. He is scared neither to admire Jung nor to confront the most awkward questions. What actually went on during Jung's sessions with patients? Was his mother insane? Was he a borderline case? What were the consequences of a homosexual episode in his boyhood? Was he pro-Nazi or anti-Semitic? How many affairs did he have with his patients? Why did he fail to sustain any of his friendships with men? Did he believe in ghosts, magic, and miracles? Did he sometimes mean 'God' when he said the 'Unconscious'? Why was he so secretive? Was his grandfather Goethe's illegitimate son? Did he see himself as a reincarnation of Goethe or as the man who could save humanity from nuclear destruction by psychologising Christianity? Ronald Hayman has been given access to a substantial amount of unpublished material that has not been used by previous biographers.