Two Books from the Jung Institute

Marie-Louise von Franz was a trusted associate of Carl Jung and she remains one of his staunchest disciples. The Problem of the Puer Aeternus and Patterns of Creativity Mirrored in Creation Myths are essentially transcripts of lectures delivered by Dr. von Franz at the Jung Institute in Zurich between 1959 and 1962. Like the other books in the Spring Publications Seminar Series^*—a series edited and compiled by Jungians—these books are of value to the student of children's literature when read in their proper context.

The Jung Institute Lectures are directed primarily at students of Jungian clinical psychology. The fact that a fairy tale or a myth or any other kind of narrative can, by way of Jungian analysis, reveal something of the problems of human psychology is of immense importance to the psychiatrist. But unless Jungian analysis or Freudian analysis or any analysis of literature is applied to literature by someone whose primary concern is the appreciation or evaluation of the literary work itself, the result is all too often the simplistic kind of literary interpretation which is to be found in the Puer Aeternus book in question here. Dr. von Franz does teach us much about the psychological problems of Saint-Exupéry and, by extension, of others who suffer from the Puer Aeternus (eternal youth) syndrome.^* But for her Le Petit Prince is a cadaver to be dissected, while for many adults and children it is a living experience to be felt and appreciated.

Whereas The Problem of the Puer Aeternus is sometimes irritating to the reader whose discipline is not psychology, Patterns of Creativity Mirrored in Creation Myths is an engaging work, perhaps because in it Dr. von Franz concentrates on universal mythic motifs rather than on the interpretation of literature. If the literary critic avoids the all too prevalent tendency to confuse clinical conclusions with literary ones, however, the information supplied by Dr. von Franz in both books can be applied to literature—especially to children's literature and most especially to the fairy tale.

The work of Jung and his followers has helped many to get at the essence of those "mysterious chords" struck in works of art—those chords which move and attract us even in the absence of common knowledge or conscious experience. The theory of archetypes grows out of Jungian psychology, and nowhere are archetypal images and patterns less veiled than in the fairy tale.

For example, once we understand the "puer aeternus" type we should have no difficulty in recognizing it in the fairy tale involving the youth of mysterious or special origins who, by way of tests and trials, redeems a family or a society by uniting himself (or herself) with a royal person who is in some magical way revealed as his or her logical complement. The prince and the princess live happily ever after; they reunite the male and female principles—the Yin and the Yang. They achieve eternal youth. The ritual marriage at the end of the fairy tale (and at the end of 'adult' comedy) represents the mystic's ideal, the reunion of formerly deluded man with the universal and eternal reality. "Whereupon" writes Alan Watts, "the life which had seemed momentary would be found momentous, and that present which had seemed to be no time at all would be found to be eternity" (Myth and Ritual in Christianity [Beacon, New York: 1968], p. 236). Perhaps this is a partial explanation of the emotional attraction of the fairy tale. One could go on from here in the Jungian manner to bring into play "puer aeternus" figures of myth—Dionysus, Attis and others—who might lead us still further into the truth and vitality of the tale.

The importance of the creation myth to the fairy tale is clearly shown here too. Dr. von Franz amply illustrates the connection between creation stories and rituals of initiation and renewal. The...