Jung and the Jungians on myth : an introduction

1 Mythology and the archetypes of the collective unconscious. 2 The strange mythology of the psyche: the shadow, anima, and animus. 3 The strange mythology of the psyche: the hero, wise old man, great mother, divine child, and self. 4 The Jungian analysis of myth. 5 New orientations and developments

'While, then, no introduction to Jung's psychology can avoid the topic of myth, Steven F. Walker's book is distinctive because it focuses on myth....Walker presents the Jungian view of both the origin and the function of myth, and he considers the function of myth for not only the individual but also society. In both cases, the chief function is compensatory: myth serves to raise to consciousness hertofore untended aspects of the societal and individual personality and thereby to promote balance or wholeness. The achievement of that aim requires a middle ground between wholesale identification with myth and outright rejection of it. Walker spells out the fateful consequences of overidentification for society and the individual alike.'

Hardcover