Symbols of Transformation

Collected Works of C.G. Jung - Volume 5: Symbols of Transformation

In 1912, at the age of thirty-seven, Jung published the original version of this work, "Transformations and Symbols of the Libido," which marked his divergence from the psychoanalytic school of Freud. It soon became his most widely known and influential work, and it is important in the background of "The Freud/Jung Letters." Because it represented a transitional state in the development of his theory, Jung long wished to revise it, and in 1952, he published a completely rewritten edition, on which this translation is based.

In its author's words, it is "an extended commentary on practical analysis of the prodromal stages of schizophrenia. The symptoms of the case form the Ariadne thread to guide us through the labyrinth of symbolistic parallels, that is, through the amplifications which are absolutely essential if we wish to establish the meaning of the archetypal context." In tracing the parallels, Jung draws on material from religion, mythology, ethnology, art, and psychiatry. And because of his consideration of many literary works, Classical, Oriental, and Western, "Symbols of Transformation" has a particular interest for students of literature.