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Carl Jung Signed "Memorandum… about 'Man and His Symbols'"
Carl Jung Signed "Memorandum… about 'Man and His Symbols'"
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Description:

Carl Jung
n.p., ca. May 1960
Carl Jung Signed "Memorandum… about 'Man and His Symbols'"
TDS
A 2pp typed memorandum in English signed by Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961) as "C.G. Jung" at the center of the second page, above his printed signature as "C.G. Jung." May 1960. N.p., but probably written at Jung's longtime residence on the shores of Lake Zurich, Seestrasse 228, Küsnacht-Zürich, Switzerland. On watermarked onion-skin paper. Jung has added the manuscript word "and" in the penultimate paragraph of the first page, and corrected a typographical error in the fifth paragraph. With contemporaneous typewriter cross-outs in the first paragraph. Expected wear including flattened paper folds, a few extra wrinkles, and minor chipped edges. A minor closed tear affects the bottom margin of the first page. A few tiny holes in sentence periods made by an exuberant typewriter. Else near fine. 8.25" x 11.625."

This memorandum was submitted to Wolfgang Foges (1910-1986), the Austrian-British book editor and manager of Aldus Books, the imprint interested in publishing Jung's upcoming book, "Man and His Symbols." In the internal document, Jung outlines the main arguments of his upcoming book, which he promises will be accessible to the unstudied and well-educated alike. According to Jung, his future book will: explain what Symbols are, how they manifest in different areas of everyday life over time and in various cultures, and how they differ from consciously developed "concepts, signs, and names." At the end of this summary, Jung delves more deeply into the scope of content of the book. He explicitly states that a gloss of historical periods must be provided, from antiquity to the modern era. Jung also lobbies for as many visual aids as possible to be included in the book, mostly to short-cut through the dauntingly expansive and dense material. Last, Jung mentions "the members of the committee," referring to his future book collaborators.

There had been a resurgence of interest in Jung, as well as his brand of psychoanalysis, after former British Labour Party politician and TV broadcaster John Freeman (1915-2014) had interviewed Jung for BBC's "Face to Face" television program in October 1959. Foges had asked Freeman to act on his behalf in convincing Jung to write a popular psychology book. Initially Jung rejected the idea, but he then consented to the project with certain conditions.

Lapses or misuse of punctuation have been silently corrected. Jung's occasional awkward turns of phrase in English have not been changed.

Jung states in part:

"'Man and his Symbols' is planned to be a popular book, which should introduce the layman, and, incidentally, also a higher educated public, to the knowledge and understanding of Symbolism, i.e. of such products of the mind, which, in contradistinction from concepts or signs, are called Symbols.

Concepts, signs, and names designate a usually well-known fact or object and are intentionally coined and used with the purpose either to characterize a class or group of objects or events by a collective noun, or to express them by a conventional sign, verbal or pictorial. The Symbol, however, has an entirely different origin and meaning. It is never consciously invented or intentionally used to express generally known facts or objects. It is, on the contrary, of an unconscious origin, and it designates things or events which are not at all or at least only partially known and understood.

The Symbol is the best possible expression of a predominantly unconscious or unknown fact, which on account of its unknown nature does not allow the formation of a generally understood and understandable concept. It does not convey the complete meaning of the fact, it only hints at it in a more or less metaphorical way. A winged wheel usually designates the railway, but what a four-spoked wheel may allude to is a very controversial question. We may even be in doubt whether it means a wheel or not. Yet it is more than probable that it means something, when we take notice of the way in which this symbol is treated in different societies…

Symbols are found everywhere where man is confronted with the great Unknown of his existence, f.i. the wherefrom and the whereto of his life and of the world in general; the inscrutable mystery of his Psyche; the wiles of Fate and Destiny and so on. But Symbols are also found in infinitely more modest circumstances, f.i. in individual dreams, spontaneous phantasies, in visions, hallucinations, and delusions of a more or less disequilibrated mind, the balance of which can be disturbed already by relatively common emotions. Symbols are plentiful in certain products of Art, especially the modern variety, in rumours and other collective phantasies, in creeds, convictions, and superstitions. Whenever phantasy is at work, we can expect symbols. When you give a chance to your phantasy you can be also certain to produce a symbol of which you are unaware and which will need a good deal of self-reflection to become conscious as such.

In all situations where man is at the end of his wits, he will have recourse to his symbolizing faculty; on the basis of his insufficient knowledge he will use his intuitions in order to create a more or less satisfactory picture of what he knows and he does not know, as little understandable to others as to himself.

The field for investigation is vast - almost limitless. It extends from the dim origins of myths and fairy tales to modern individual symbolism. As we have only a very few moments of individual symbolism from antiquity but a great many of collective myths, the historical part of the book will have to deal chiefly with material from Egyptian, Greek, Indian, etc. mythology as well as from Christian mediaeval sources. Contemporary psychology will provide the individual symbolism of dreams and other products of the unconscious. A particular chapter ought to be dedicated to the symbolism of the Individuation-Process, as the latter offers the favourable occasion of showing the role symbols play in the continuity of psychical life.

As it is out of question that one can deal with this enormous task in a systematic, all-including way, our only possibility consists in a collection of simple but representative topics as richly illustrated by pictorial material as possible. The plan is, that in the first place the members of the committee state their propositions as to the topics they want to treat and also their ideas as to the ways of further procedure. I myself intend to produce a general introduction trying to give a popular representation of the theoretic and practical principles in the investigation of symbolism…"

"Man and His Symbols" was Jung's final work; he finalized the copy for Part I, "Approaching the Unconscious," less than two weeks before his death in June 1961. The book was published in 1964. Jung's "committee" of collaborators eventually included: Joseph L. Henderson, Marie-Louise von Franz, Aniela Jaffé, and Jolande Jacobi.

Joseph L. Henderson (1903-2007) was an American psychologist who co-founded the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Henderson wrote Part II, "Ancient Myths and Modern Men."

Marie-Louise von Franz (1915-1998) was a German-Swiss psychologist who contributed two parts to "Man and His Symbols," Part III, "The Process of Individuation"; and the Conclusion, "Science and the Unconscious." Von Franz started analytical training with Jung in 1934. She also served as Jung's Latin and Greek translator.

Swiss psychologist Aniela Jaffé (1903-1991) wrote Part IV, "Symbolism in the Visual Arts." She served as Jung's personal secretary from 1955-1961 and edited Jung's semi-autobiographical work, "Memories, Dreams, Reflections."

Jolande Jacobi (1890-1978) was a Hungarian-Swiss psychologist who wrote Part V, "Symbols in an Individual Analysis." Jacobi helped establish the C.G. Jung Institute for Analytical Psychology in Zurich in 1948.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Provenance: Ex-Joyce M. Howell (died 1986), the private secretary of Wolfgang Foges.
  • Dimensions: 8.25" x 11.625"
  • Medium: TDS

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