Carl Jung was one of the world's most influential psychoanalysts - with the exception of Freud, who chose him as the first President of the International Psychoanalytic Association, no psychologist has achieved more. He initiated groundbreaking ideas, yet trusted only his impulses. He astonished patients by reading their minds and answering questions they hadn't yet asked. He saved some from psychosis, but drove others to despair. His outspokenness was sometimes brutal and sometimes impressive. Through his life his charisma attracted both women and men, including numerous patients and a priest, yet he rarely returned the fondness he inspired. He would empty his chamber pot out of the window of his tower-house without checking if someone was underneath, but was rightly regarded as a great man.
Previous biographers have either made him an idol or condemned him for his failings. In '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 the immortality of the soul? 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Ronald Hayman has been given access to a substantial amount of unpublished material that has not been used by previous biographers. Impeccably researched and written with notable objectivity, 'Jung' offers a rare insight into how Jung's revolutionary ideas grew out of his own extraordinary experiences.
