From myth to The Red Book via philosophy

The article retraces the ways a university professor, a teacher of German literature, relates to Jung’s work. An interest in myths and symbols sooner or later leads one to study the powerful writings of this highly cultivated thinker. In 2007, a doctoral dissertation on Jung Kulturphilosoph filled a gap in Jungian studies. It showed the influence of philosophers (from the 17th to early 20th centuries) on Jung’s thinking, comparing it with the ideas of some of his contemporaries. Jung’s solution to the ill ease of the West and of the human psyche is unique in many ways. The translation of the Red Book was an extraordinary adventure, blending the hypnotic whirlpool, artistic discovery, and traductological thinking. Translating the letters exchanged by Jung and Neumann raised a question that is still unanswered: Jung’s fascination with Nazism. Despite lively popular Interest in his work, the French university establishment still shuns Jung. Jungian psychology is still largely branded “non-scientific,” and Jung himself as a victim of psychological imbalance. Nevertheless, many students read Jung and want to know more about him.