Jung: His Life and Work: A Biographical Memoir

379 Pages·1976·23.948 MB·English

by  Barbara Hannah

JUNG
His Life and Work
A Biographical Memoir
by
Barbara Hannah
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York
JUNG
His Life and Work
Copyright © 1976 by Barbara Hannah
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof,
must not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Longman Canada
Limited, Toronto.
SNB: 399-11441-6
Library of Congress' Cataloging In PubHcation Data
Hannah, Barbara.
lung, his life and work.
Includes index.
1. lung, Carl Gustav, 1875-1961. I. Title.
BFI73.l85H331976 150'.19'54 [BJ 76-13365
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS
Preface
1. The Swiss Soil ......................................... 11
2. Early Impressions, 1875-1886 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 19
3. The Basel Gymnasium, 1886-1895 ............... . . . . . . . . . .. 39
4. Basel University, 1895-1900 ............................... 62
5. BurghOlzli'Psychiatric Hospital, 1900-1909 .................. 77
6. The First Years in Kiisnacht, 1909-1914. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 97
7. The First World War, 1914--1918 ........................... 113
8. The Frontiers Open, 1919-1925 ............................. 139
9. Journeys, 1925-1926 ...................................... 158
10. Back to Europe, 1926-1933 ................................ 182
11. Storm Clouds over Europe, 1933-1937 ...................... 209
12. Indian Intermezzo, 1937-1938 .............................. 240
13. Darkening Clouds, 1935-1939 .............................. 254
14. The Second World War, 1939-1945 ......................... 266
15. Reaping the Harvest, 1945-1952 ............................ 288
16. The Mysterium Coniunctionis, 1952-1955 .................... 311
17. Late Years, 1955-1959 .................................... 327
18. Back to the Rhizome, 1960-1961 ........................... 342
Reference Notes ............................................. 351
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 361
Index ....................................................... 366
The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge permission to quote passages
from Memories, Dreams, Reflections and The ColleCted Works ofe. G. Jung:
From Memories, Dreams, Reflections, by C. G. Jung, recorded and edited by
AnielaJaffe, translated by Richard and Clara Winston. Copyright © 1962,1%3
by Random House, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Pantheon Books, a Division
of Random House. Inc.
From The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, ed. by Gerhard Adler, Michael
Fordham. William McGuire. and Herbert Read; trans. by R. F. C. Hull,
Bollingen Series XX, vol. 6. Psychological Types (copyright © 1971 by
Princeton University Press); vol. 7, Two Essays on Analytical Psychology
(copyright 1953 and © 1966 by Bollingen Foundation); vol. 8, The Structure and
Dynamics oft he Psyche (copyright © 1960 by Bollingen Foundation and © 1969
by Princeton University Press); vol. 9i, The Archetypes and the Collective
Uncollscious (copyright © 1959 and 1969 by Bollingen Foundation); vol. 10,
Civilization in Transition (copyright © 1964 by Bollingen Foundation); vol. II,
Psychology and Religion: West and East (copyright © 1958 by Bollingen
Foundation and © 1969 by Princeton University Press); vol. 13, Alchemical
Studies (copyright © 1967 by Bollingen Foundation); vol. 14, Mysterium
Coniunctionis (copyright © 1963 by Bollingen Foundation and © 1970 by
Princeton University Press); vol. 16, The Practice of Psychotherapy (copyright
1954 and © 1966 by Bollingen Foundation). Reprinted by permission of
Princeton University Press.
PREFACE
This book is in no sense an official biography of C. G. Jung, but claims
only to be a biographical memoir, showing his life as it appeared to me. It is
too early for a detailed biography, such as Ernest Jones's The Life and
Work of Sigmund Freud. Such a biography would require careful study of
many documents which are at present held by the Jung family, and these
are not yet accessible. Indeed, I knew that Jung's children were very much
against anything biographical being written about their father, since they
feel that all that is necessary has been said in his own Memories, Dreams,
Reflections. I therefore did not inform any of them that I was wrjting this
book. When it was finished, I gave it to them to read before publication, and
they thoroughly disapproved.
This is not surprising when one thinks from what different standpoints
we saw their father. I know little about Jung's family life, except that it was
very happy and very meaningful to him. This book was written entirely
from my own standpoint, the standpoint of those of his pupils who were
privileged also to see him outside analysis.
In Memories, Dreams, Reflections Jung wrote almost entirely of his
inner life, which was far more meaningful to him than any outer event. It
was also of this inner side of his life that he almost always talked to me. I
have tried to follow the course of his life chronologically, showing how he
first lived his psychology and only much later formulated in words what he
had lived.
Jung used to say that my common ground with him was my intense
interest in psychological wholeness, in the process of individuation as he
called it. I have therefore tried, throughout this book, to keep the spotlight
on the development of this process in Jung himself. But the extraordinary
degree of wholeness which he attained, and the thoroughness with which
every possible aspect of his life was lived, make it impossible for any book
about him, even ifit ran into ten volumes, to portray more than a fraction of
this fullness.
I have also tried to record information that would otherwise die with me.
This was the motive that emboldened me to mention many things which it is
perhaps too early to publish, including the facts, as I know them, of Jung's
long friendship with Toni Wolff. There are such persistent and false rumors
in circulation about this relationship that I felt I should present it in what
seems to me its true perspective. I am probably one of the last people still
alive who heard these facts from all three people concerned: Toni Wolff,
Emma Jung, and Jung himself. This relationship has already been
mentioned in a book by Paul Roazen on Freud and Tausk. *
For the same reason, I undertook the uncongenial task of going into
detail concerning the ridiculous but strangely persistent rumor that Jung
was a Nazi. I lived in Kiisnacht and saw Jung frequently from the days of
the first rise of the Nazis until their final downfall. It was one of the very few
outer subjects which he often discussed with me. I therefore feel in a
position to bear witness.
I have necessarily repeated a good deal, particularly in the early
chapters, that is already available in Memories, Dreams, Reflections.
These were the aspects of Jung's life which were important to him, of
which, for the most part, I heard him speak long before he undertook the
task of recording his memories. I have tried to convey many of these
aspects from a slightly different standpoint, and-although I have done my
best to make them intelligible as they stand-I have always given the
references to more detail in Memories. That book has been very widely
read, and will always remain the deepest and most authentic source
concerning Jung.
My best thanks are due to the late Esther Harding for suggesting that I
should write this book. Without her initiative I should never have thought
of setting out on such a venture. The fact that I survived to finish the book, I
owe to the wise care of Dr. Hugo Koch of Bad Ragaz. My thanks are also
due to Peter Birkhliuser, who was kind enough to make inquiries for me at
the Gymnasium and University of Basel and was very generous with
information concerning his father-in-l~w, Albert Oeri, who was a lifelong
friend of Jung. I amalso grateful to Una Thomas, whose painstaking typing
and retyping of almost the whole manuscript was of the greatest help.
Above all, I am indebted to Marie-Louise von Franz and Vernon Brooks.
The former not only provided me with an excellent summary of Jung's
article on synchronicity, but was indefatigable in assisting me in innumera
ble other ways. Vernon Brooks read the whole book twice during his
summer holidays and undertook the enormous task of correcting it right
through. He has a genius for improving language without altering the
meaning, and the book owes a great deal to him.
B. H.
Bollingen, 1974
*Brother Animal, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1969, p. 165.
JUNG
His Life and Work
1
The Swiss Soil
Although Switzerland is probably the world's best-known tourist center,
it is surprisingly little known in other ways. During the last years of his life
Jung used to complain, with considerable amusement, that he had become
a tourist attraction like the Bern bears! It was almost a part of a visit to
Switzerland to want to see the famous old Jung,just as one should not miss
the Matterhorn or the JungfraLi.
Although such intrusion on his privacy naturally had to be discouraged
for obvious reasons, it was based on very sound instinct. Jung belonged
organically to Switzerland,just as much as its famous mountains, and was
just as much rooted in Swiss soil. In spite of his international reputation and
his facility for seeing the point of view of all nationalities, of speaking their
languages either literally or at least psychologically, he was and remained
Swiss through and through. It would therefore be impossible to describe
him without first presenting a brief survey of the less well-known
characteristics of his country, particularly as they affected his growth and
development.
James Joyce called Switzerland the last "Naturpark des Geistes"
(National Park of the Spirit) and with considerable justification. To start
with, it is truly a democracy and comparatively free from party politics.
The Swiss, unlike the English, for example, do not elect the members of
their parliament and then for several years place all political power in their
hands, or worse, in their party's hands. If their government does not
govern to suit them, all the English can do is grumble loudly, write letters to
the newspapers, and demonstrate their disapproval in every by-election. It
is very different in Switzerland. No Swiss government can decide any
really important question without first appealing to the country; its citizens
then settle that question for themselves by a direct vote: yes or no. And
11