Modern Man in Search of a Soul
Carl Jung gathers eleven essays from the 1920s and early 1930s that together offer the most accessible introduction to his mature thought. The opening pieces lay out the practical work of analytical psychology, including dream analysis and the difference between his method and that of Sigmund Freud. From there Jung turns to broader questions: the stages of life, the goals of psychotherapy, the relationship between psychology and literature, and what he calls the spiritual problem of modern man, who has lost contact with the symbols that once gave life meaning. The book introduces ideas of the collective unconscious, archetypes, and individuation in plain prose written for general readers and clinicians rather than specialists. It closes with a piece on psychotherapy and a worldview, in which Jung argues that no therapy can be neutral about the question of meaning.
What you might want to know about Modern Man in Search of a Soul
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A collection of eleven essays in which Jung sets out his approach to the unconscious, dream analysis, and the spiritual problems of the modern individual.
Peterson has called this the single best entry point to Jung, and it is the only Jung title on his Great Books list, which he uses as a foundation for his own work on archetypes, meaning, and the religious function of the psyche.
No. Jung wrote these essays for a general audience, and they remain the most readable starting point in his work before tackling longer books like Symbols of Transformation or Aion.
Modern Man in Search of a Soul was written by Carl Jung, published in 1933 by Harcourt Brace.
Modern Man in Search of a Soul is 244 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Modern Man in Search of a Soul takes most readers 4 to 5 hours to finish.
Modern Man in Search of a Soul is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
