[percy-l] Percy. & Jung?
Henry P. Mills III
wppdirector at gmail.com
Sat Mar 4 08:27:00 EST 2023
Hello Michael and Rhonda. Thanks for the query and comments about
psychoanalytic theorist Carl Jung and Percy. Always good to consider how
other literary/historical figures may play into Percy's fiction!
Michael, you ask:
“In LG, Percy's protagonist reads ‘a German physician’ whose patient
experiences ‘gaps’ in memory and ‘fugue states’. I was wondering if this
‘German physician’ referred to, but not named, is Jung.”
After a quick look in the index of Samway’s bio of WP, it seems Percy did
in fact participate in a reading group that studied Jung in the late 1970s (pp.
331-32). Since LG was written well before then, Michael, an answer to your
above question as posed is not clear.
On the other hand, barring further study on the subject, who is to say what
psychoanalytic literature Percy may have studied during the psychoanalysis
he pursued while in Columbia medical school? Also, or while recovering from
tuberculosis when he read much of the existential literature of the time?
Or during the 1950s when he was writing on psychological topics and themes
in various noteworthy essays? Both Samway's and Tolson's are great
resources for sparking conversation.
To expand on the topic of Jung, the Jungian concepts that come most readily
to mind to me when I hear his name are his theories of:
the “shadow self”, “collective unconscious”, “archetypes”, and the “role of
myth” in society. To me, these concepts -- as one Jungian framework --
contribute to determining both an individual’s sense of personal meaning,
as well as his/her identity relative to the larger cultural and mythic
forces of the given society in which he/she finds themself. Certainly,
Percy's fiction could be read using any of these concepts.
Anyone else care to expand on any of the above ideas or other Jung concepts
vis-a-vis Percy? Which novels might Jungian concepts be readily applied to?
MG, LG, and Lancelot come to mind. Any takers?
Regards,
Henry
On Fri, Feb 24, 2023 at 9:20 PM Michael Martin Serafin <
michael_serafin at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Miss McDonnell,
>
> Thanks for your input on this. Lately, I have been catching up on episodes
> of a podcast called "Digital Jung", written and presented by Jason Smith,
> Jungian analyst and author of " Religious But Not Religious: Living A
> Symbolic Life", and the podcast is a companion to the book. At the same
> time, I have just started reading "The Last Gentleman" for the first time.
> In it, Percy's protagonist reads "a German physician" whose patient
> experiences "gaps" in memory and "fugue states". I was wondering if this "
> German physician" referred to, but not named is Jung.
>
> ------------------------------
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> *Subject:* Percy-L Digest, Vol 179, Issue 10
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> 1. Re: Percy. & Jung? (RHONDA MCDONNELL)
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2023 20:08:19 +0000
> From: RHONDA MCDONNELL <rhonda_mcdonnell at msn.com>
> To: "Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical
> Discussion" <percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [percy-l] Percy. & Jung?
> Message-ID:
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>
> Hi Michael,
>
> My guess would have been yes, but I didn?t want to be too cocky. So I
> checked the Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill, and sure enough found
> several Jung books in the Percy collection. That suggests that he did read
> Jung. Additionally, as psychiatry was one of the areas he was interested in
> pursuing as a specialty, I imagine he was introduced to Jungian psychology
> in med school. But I am imagining. I wonder if he spoke of Jung in any
> interviews? I?ll have to check the indexes of the ?Conversations with ??
> volumes on Percy.
>
> What prompts your question?
>
> Rhonda
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Feb 21, 2023, at 9:43 PM, Michael Martin Serafin <
> michael_serafin at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> ?
> Did Percy ever study Jung? Just wondering....
>
> Michael Serafin
> Western Mass.
>
>
>
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