Labyrinths
Emma Jung, Her Marriage to Carl and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis
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Labyrinths
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Narrated by:
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Karen Cass
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By:
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Catrine Clay
About this listen
The story of Emma and Carl Jung's highly unconventional marriage, their relationship with Freud, and their part in the early years of Psychoanalysis.
Emma Jung was clever, ambitious and immensely wealthy, one of the richest heiresses in Switzerland when, aged seventeen, she met and fell in love with Carl Jung, a handsome, penniless medical student. Determined to share his adventurous life, and to continue her own studies, she was too young to understand Carl’s complex personality or conceive the dramas that lay ahead.
Labyrinths tells the story of the Jungs’ unconventional marriage, their friendship and, following publication of Jung’s The Psychology of the Unconscious, subsequent rift with Freud. It traces Jung’s development of word association, notions of the archetype, the collective unconscious, the concepts of extraversion and introversion and the role played by both Carl and Emma in the early development of the scandalous new Psychoanalysis movement.
In its many twists and turns, the Jung marriage was indeed labyrinthine and Emma was forced to fight with everything she had to come to terms with Carl’s brilliant, complex character and to keep her husband close to her. His belief in polygamy led to many extra-marital affairs including a menage a trois with a former patient Toni Wolff that lasted some thirty years. But the marriage endured and Emma realised her ambition to become a noted analyst in her own right.
©2016 Catrine Clay (P)2016 HarperCollins PublishersCritic Reviews
‘Clay navigates the maze-like story with perspicacity and ease … It's a gripping story of two talented individuals, their fascinating, often troubled, but ultimately enduring partnership, and how together they shaped the brave new world of psychoanalysis’ Observer
‘Clay remains a clear, unostentatious narrator … Emma's voice – as well as her insight and daring – is loud and clear … admirable’ Daily Telegraph
‘Clay's book is a warm-hearted tribute to Emma's wisdom and tenacity’ Sunday Times
‘Labyrinths finally gives a voice to Emma … Clay's story is riveting because the patients’ stories are so gripping … Clay creates a wonderful atmosphere in her writing and … negotiates the labyrinth with aplomb’ The Times
‘Catrine Clay's absorbing new biography charts the twists and turns in some of the key lives involved in that historical moment, in particular those of Emma Jung and her more famous husband Carl’ Financial Times
‘Engaging … acute … For Clay, Emma Jung's quiet growth to dominance over the psychoanalytic establishment her husband had constructed seems the more significant’ Literary Review
‘This book will fascinate you’ Psychologies magazine
What listeners say about Labyrinths
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 10-07-2023
Really enjoyed
Great overall view of the life of Carl and Emma. Filled in a few gaps and shed some new light, I liked the storytelling style and the accent of the narrator was lovely, really brought it to life
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Nessus
- 20-10-2016
A book in tabloid style
I found the historical content very interesting. Lots of stuff that hasn’t been brought out before. However, the almost lascivious pleasure that the text and the narrator take in continually making Jung a monster and Emma a saint, is really disturbing. As the title of my review says, it is like reading a tabloid story. I would be curious to know if the author has ever undergone Jungian analysis, or any analysis.
The author’s transparent distaste for Jung the man comes through loud and clear. This is a great pity because many of us owe our lives to Jung’s work and compassion for those who suffer. And of course he was a wounded and suffering soul himself. One has to be to work with wounded people. Of course Emma was wounded in her own way ... the people who we bring into our lives are a direct reflection of unconscious parts of ourselves. Parts we have “repressed” into unconscious shadow. Parts that are un-lived by us. Parts that WE need to know to be truly ourselves; to be whole. Parts we don’t like, AND parts that are “golden” ... This has little to do with social conventions, right behaviour etc. Jung lived out his soul as much as possible ... he was, from the accounts of those who were around him, himself ... warts and all. Our partners generally live out/present to us, our unconscious selves.
It would seem that the author has a most interesting animus ... she has found a perfect mirror in Carl Jung to reflect it back at her.
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2 people found this helpful