Post-Jungian Criticism: Theory and Practice

Rereads Jung in light of contemporary theoretical concerns, and offers a variety of examples of post-Jungian literary and cultural criticism.

This groundbreaking collection brings the range and diversity of post-Jungian thought into the realm of contemporary literary and cultural criticism. These essays explore, expand, critique, and apply post-Jungian critical theory as they revisit and reread Jung's own writings from numerous perspectives. No longer treated as a source of clear, unequivocal, authoritative pronouncement, Jung's writings are themselves subjected to critical, deconstructive readings, and several of the essays confront head-on Jung's evident racism, antifeminism, anti-Semitism, and political conservatism. While not downplaying such charges, the contributors outline an alternative, post-Jungian theory responsive to contemporary feminist, postcolonial, and poststructural concerns. The result is not just a critical reinterpretation but, more important, a regeneration of Jungian thought.