Given Corbin's affinity for the German Romantic Tradition and his close association with Jung, this volume, and the other work of Paul Bishop, may well be of interest to readers of this blog.
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Spring Journal Books
(the book publishing imprint of Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture, the oldest Jungian psychology journal in the world)
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Reading Goethe at Midlife
Ancient Wisdom, German Classicism, and Jung
By Paul Bishop
The second volume in the Zurich Lecture Series in Analytical Psychology
Co-sponsored by ISAPZURICH and Spring Journal Books
ISBN: 978-1-935528-06-7
280 pp.
Price: $26.95
This book explores the history of the idea of the midlife
crisis, using the writings of C.G. Jung and Goethe to investigate its
relevance for today. Tracing how the "ages of humankind" became "the
stages of life," in which the midlife crisis represents a pivotal
moment, Paul Bishop offers a detailed analysis of a paper by Jung on
this subject. He then shifts the focus to Goethe's interest in Orphic
wisdom, and one of Goethe's major later poems, "Primal Words. Orphic" (Urworte. Orphisch).
Using Jungian ideas to explore the psychological implications of this
poem, Bishop draws on Goethe's own commentary, and other background
material, to uncover its vital message.
Reading Goethe at Midlife reveals the remarkable symmetry
between the ideas of Jung and Goethe. Jung's analysis of the stages of
life, and his advice to heed the "call of the self," are brought into
conjunction with Goethe's emphasis on the importance of hope, showing an
underlying continuity of thought and relevance from ancient wisdom, via
German classicism, to analytical psychology.
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*****
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Praise for Reading Goethe at Midlife
At a time when many Jungians are turning to neuroscience to
provide an external underpinning for Analytical Psychology, this
scholarly book is very welcome: it returns to psychology's home
territory, placing Jung firmly in a long cultural tradition.
Impressively well-read in many fields extending from literature and the
history of ideas to psychoanalysis and Jungian studies, Paul Bishop
allows a text by Jung and a late poem by Goethe to mirror and enhance
each other, demonstrating Jung's intellectual proximity to the tradition
of German classicism. The wealth of "amplifications" that Bishop brings
to the many themes treated allows us to experience a living reality - a
continuity of ideas across different times and cultures.
WOLFGANG GIEGERICH, AUTHOR OF THE SOUL'S LOGICAL LIFE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS |
PART ONE |
Chapter 1: The Stages of Life and the Midlife Crisis: A Brief History of an Idea |
Two
Visual Starting Points – From the Ages of Humankind… – …to the Stages
of Life – The Stages of Life: An Idea Comes of Age – The Midlife Crisis –
Walter B. Pitkin and Edmund Bergler – Erik H. Erikson and Elliott
Jaques – Gail Sheehy and Daniel J. Levinson – Other Approaches,
Including the Return of the Noonday Demon – Jungian Approaches to
Midlife – Literature of the Nineties – Recent French Approaches: Éric
Deschavanne and Pierre-Henri Tavoillot, Marie de Hennezel and Bertrand
Vergely |
Chapter 2: The Turning Point in Life: What Conflict the Sun Must Experience at Midday |
PART TWO |
Chapter 3: Goethe's Orphism |
The
Cult of Orpheus – Orpheus in the Age of Romanticism – Goethe's Relation
to the Orphic Mysteries – Creuzer and Hermann, Zoega and Welcker –
Faust as Orpheus – Orphism, and Primal Words |
Chapter 4: Primal Words. Orphic |
Daimon
– Chance – Eros – The Necessity of Love; or, Erotic Necessity – The
Necessity of Necessity; or, Necessary Necessity – Hope – Conclusion |
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About the Author:
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Paul Bishop, B.A., D.Phil., studied at Oxford
University and is Professor of German at the University of Glasgow. His
research has focused on the intellectual background to analytical
psychology. His books include Analytical Psychology and German Classical Aesthetics, Jung's "Answer to Job": A Commentary, and The Dionysian Self: C.G. Jung's Reception of Friedrich Nietzsche.
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*****
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