Erich Neumann – författare

The Origins and History of Consciousness draws on a full range of world mythology to show how individual consciousness undergoes the same archetypal stages of development as human consciousness as a whole. Erich Neumann was one of C. G. Jung''s most creative students and a renowned practitioner of analytical psychology in his own right. In this influential book, Neumann shows how the stages begin and end with the symbol of the Uroboros, the tail-eating serpent. The intermediate stages are projected in the universal myths of the World Creation, Great Mother, Separation of the World Parents, Birth of the Hero, Slaying of the Dragon, Rescue of the Captive, and Transformation and Deification of the Hero. Throughout the sequence, the Hero is the evolving ego consciousness.Featuring a foreword by Jung, this Princeton Classics edition introduces a new generation of readers to this eloquent and enduring work.

These essays by the famous analytical psychologist and student of creativity Erich Neumann belong in the context of the depth psychology of culture and reveal a prescient concern about the one-sidedness of patriarchal Western civilization. Neumann recommended a "cultural therapy" that he thought would redress a "fundamental ignorance" about feminine and masculine psychology, and he looked for societal healing to a "matriarchal consciousness" that forms the bridge between the feminine and the creative. Brought together here for the first time, the essays in the book discuss the psychological stages of woman''s development, the moon and matriarchal consciousness, Mozart''s Magic Flute, the meaning of the earth archetype for modern times, and the fear of the feminine. In Mozart''s fantastic world, Neumann saw a true Auseinandersetzung--the conflict and coming-to-terms with each other of the matriarchal and the patriarchal worlds. Developing such a synthesis of the feminine and the masculine in the psychic reality of the individual and of the collective was, he argued, one of the fundamental, future-oriented tasks of both the society and the individual.

The renowned tale of Amor and Psyche, from Apuleius''s second-century Latin novel The Golden Ass, is one of the most charming fragments of classical literature. Neumann chose it as the exemplar of an unusual study of feminine psychology. Unfolding the spiritual and mythical background of the pagan narrative, he shows how the contest between the mortal maid Psyche and the great goddess Aphrodite over the god Amor--Aphrodite''s son, Psyche''s husband--yields surprising and valuable insights into the psychic life of women.

A landmark account of how artistic expression arises from the collective unconsciousThis book brings together four essays by analytical psychologist Erich Neumann, who explores the connections between creativity and the unconscious mind. The archetypes of the collective unconscious, he argues, are intrinsically formless psychic components that take form in art. The psychology of the individual in whom they appear, the mediums of expression through which they pass, and the time and place in which they occur mold their varying forms. Neumann illustrates his theme in the first essay, “Leonardo da Vinci and the Mother Archetype,” in which he shows how the work of art, and art itself, were for Leonardo not ends in themselves but rather instruments and expressions of his inner life. He follows with “Art and Time,” “A Note on Marc Chagall,” and “Creative Man and Transformation.” Neumann sees the artist as a hero in isolation, a tragically lonely figure whose mission is often to oppose the cultural canon of the age. He demonstrates how the problem of form in modern art is linked to the chaos of the modern world and a fundamental change in how the individual seeks a life of dignity.

An essential exploration of creativity by one of the twentieth century’s foremost Jungian psychologistsThough said to be C. G. Jung’s favorite and most innovative student, Erich Neumann provoked controversy within the Jungian community. While his work presents a wealth of material illustrating Jung’s ideas, his interpretations go far beyond those ideas to open important avenues between analytical psychology and the study of literature and art. This landmark book brings together five of his most illuminating essays on creativity. Written over a span of years about diverse personalities—Franz Kafka, Marc Chagall, Georg Trakl, Sigmund Freud, and Jung—these essays share a common theme: the relationship between the personal and the transpersonal, the ego and the archetype. An engaging analysis of the psyche as the source of religious and artistic creation, Creative Man asks how creativity can best be fostered, how the feminine stimulates creativity in men as well as women, and how artistic creation, but also the history of human consciousness more broadly, reflect this ongoing creative movement.