The Symbolic Life

The Symbolic Life is Volume 18 in The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, a series of books published by Princeton University Press in the U.S. and Routledge & Kegan Paul in the U.K. It contains miscellaneous writings that Jung published after the Collected Works had been planned, minor and fugitive works that he wished to assign to a special volume, and early writings that came to light in the course of research.^[1]

Originally planned as a brief final volume in the Collected Works, The Symbolic Life has become the largest volume in the series, and one of unusual interest. It contains 160 items spanning sixty years; they include forewords, replies to questionnaires, encyclopedia articles, occasional addresses, and letters on technical subjects.^[2]

Collection of this material relied on three circumstances: First, after Jung returned from medical practice, he devoted more time to writing — after 1950 he wrote about sixty books and papers. Second, research uncovered reviews, reports and articles from the early years of his career. And finally, Jung's files yielded several finished or nearly finished papers that survived in manuscript.^[2]

Volume 18 includes three longer works: The Tavistock Lectures (1936); Symbols and the Interpretation of Dreams (1961); and The Symbolic Life, the transcript of a 1939 seminar given in London.^[2]

Detailed abstracts of each chapter are available online.^[3]

See also

• Carl Jung

References

• Jung, C.G. (1977). The Symbolic Life: Miscellaneous Writings, Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 18, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-09892-0
• Jung, C.G. (1977). The Symbolic Life: Miscellaneous Writings, Collected Works of C. G. Jung, London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-09895-3