Essays on Contemporary Events 1936-1946 - Book Review

Contemporary Review, Jan, 2003

Essays on Contemporary Events 1936-1946. Carl Gustav Jung. Routledge. [pound sterling]30.00. 109 pages. ISBN 0-415-27834-1. This volume of Jung's writings on the momentous events that occurred round him between 1936 and 1945 was first published in English in 1947 and is here reprinted with a new historical and biographical note.

Because of Nazi censorship, these essays analysing the spirit of the times were first published in Switzerland while 'The Fight with the Shadow' was first broadcast on the BBC's Third Programme in 1946. In large part these essays were an attempt to explain what some thought was his tacit support of Hitler's regime through his presidency of the General Medical Society for Psychotherapy, based mainly in Germany. His role meant he refrained from attacking the Nazis' New Order and in 1940 he resigned his post. These essays give us a unique insight into this period as seen by a titan who was caught up in it. He reminds readers that as early as 1918 he had warned of the 'blond beast'--that is, 'the primitive European'--which would stalk Europe after the collapse of the Christian order. In this Jung remains as timely as in the 1940s. (E.B.)