Labyrinths: Emma Jung, Her Marriage to Carl and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis

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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 Carls complex personality or conceive the dramas that lay ahead.

Labyrinths tells the story of the Jungs unconventional marriage, their friendship and, following publication of Jungs The Psychology of the Unconscious, subsequent rift with Freud. It traces Jungs 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 Carls 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.

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

Author Bio

Catrine Clay was a director and producer of documentaries at the BBC for 20 years, the last 10 years for Timewatch, the major BBC2 strand in the History Unit. She won the International Documentary Award, the Golden Spire for Best History Documentary, and was nominated for BAFTA. She is the author of King Kaiser Tsar and Trautmans Journey, which won the Best Sports Biography of the Year, and was runner-up in the William Hill Sports Book Prize.