The One Mind: C. G. Jung and the future of literary criticism

255 Pages·2013·1.59 MB·English

by  Matthew A. Fike

THE ONE MIND
The One Mind: C. G. Jung and the future of literary criticism explores
the implications of C. G. Jung’s unus mundus by applying his writings on the
metaphysical, the paranormal, and the quantum to literature. As Jung knew,
everything is connected because of its participation in universal consciousness,
which encompasses all that is, including the collective unconscious. Matthew A.
Fike argues that this principle of unity enables an approach in which psychic
functioning is both a subject and a means of discovery—psi phenomena evoke the
connections among the physical world, the psyche, and the spiritual realm.
Applying the tools of Jungian literary criticism in new ways by expanding
their scope and methodology, Fike discusses the works of Hawthorne, Milton,
Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and lesser-known writers in terms of issues from
psychology, parapsychology, and physics. Topics include the case for monism
over materialism, altered states of consciousness, types of psychic functioning,
UFOs, synchronicity, and space-time relativity. The One Mind examines Goodman
Brown’s dream, Ad am’s vision in Paradise Lost, the dream sequence in “The
Wanderer,” the role of metaphor in Robert A. Monroe’s metaphysical trilogy,
Orfeo Angelucci’s work on UFOs, and the stolen boat episode in Wordsworth’s
The Prelude. The book concludes with case studies on Robert Jordan and William
Blake. Considered together, these readings bring us a signifi cant step closer to a
unity of psychology, science, and spirituality.
The One Mind illustrates how Jung’s writings contain the seeds of the future of
literary criticism. Reaching beyond archetypal criticism and postmodern theoreti-
cal approaches to Jung, Fike proposes a new school of Jungian literary criticism
based on the unitary world that underpins the collective unconscious. This book
will appeal to scholars of C. G. Jung as well as students and readers with an inter-
est in psychoanalysis, literature, literary theory, and the history of ideas.
Matthew A. Fike is a Professor of English at Winthrop University in Rock Hill,
South Carolina, where he teaches courses in the human experience, critical
thinking, Shakespeare, and Renaissance literature.
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THE ONE MIND
C. G. Jung and the future of
literary criticism
Matthew A. Fike
First published 2014
by Routledge
27 Church Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 2FA
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Matthew A. Fike
The right of Matthew A. Fike to be identifi ed as author of this work has
been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Fike, Matthew.
The one mind : C. G. Jung and the future of literary criticism/Matthew
A. Fike.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Literature—Psychology. 2. Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav), 1875–1961.
3. Psychology and literature. 4. Jungian psychology. I. Title.
PN56.P93F55 2014
809’.93353—dc23
2013012664
ISBN: 978-0-415-81974-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-88620-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Sufolk
FOR KINDNESS
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Portions of some chapters of The One Mind: C. G. Jung and the Future of Literary
Criticism draw from the following previously published materials.
• Chapter 1: “We Are One Psyche: A Jungian Approach to Hawthorne’s ‘Young
Goodman Brown,’” Postscript 27, no. 9 (2012): 1−20, www.pachome.org;
and “The Literary Matrix of Loren Eiseley’s ‘The Secret of Life,’” The CEA
Critic 72, no. 3 (2009): 17−36.
• Chapter 2: Review of Thomas Campbell’s My Big TOE: A Trilogy Unifying
Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics, TMI Focus 31, no. 3−4 (Summer/Fall
2009): 1−14.
• Chapter 3: “‘The Wanderer’ and the Psychology of Sailing,” in Reading the
Sea: New Essays on Sea Literature, ed. Kevin Alexander Boon (New York:
Fort Schuyler, 1999), 77−99.
• Chapter 4: “Thinking Metaphysically: The Challenge to Fundamentalism in
the Works of Robert A. Monroe,” Peer English: The Journal of New Critical
Thinking 3 (2008): 91−104.
• Chapter 6: “Light at Midnight and the Art of Synchronicity,” Conversations
in the Field 1, no. 7 (2010): 1−8, www.thejungiansociety.org.
The editors/publishers of the pieces listed above have provided permission to
include and adapt my earlier work as part of this book. In addition, Tor/Forge
granted permission to quote from Robert Jordan’s New Spring and The Wheel of
Time series, volumes 1−13, in chapter 8.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xi
In-text citations xii
Introduction 1
1 A traditional approach to Hawthorne and the problem of
materialism in Eiseley 19
2 Primordial consciousness: Transcendental monism in
Milton’s Paradise Lost 35
3 Altered states: “The Wanderer” and the psychology
of sailing 51
4 Out-of-body experience: Metaphor in Monroe’s
metaphysical trilogy 68
5 UFOs: Dr. Jung versus Dr. Greer and the case of
Orfeo M. Angelucci 81
6 Synchronicity: Wordsworth’s stolen boat episode
in The Prelude 109
7 Remote viewing and channeling: The sonnets of
Shakespeare and “Shakespeare” 122
8 Amplifi cation and quaternity in Robert Jordan’s
The Wheel of Time series 143
ix