A Review Compendium

A panel of Editors of the Journal of Analytical Psychology, convened by Christopher Perry, chose thirty-four reviews of important publications which, in their opinion, represented ‘major contributions to the development of analytical psychology’. They then invited the two of us to select relevant passages from the reviews in a way which we felt would be most appropriate. Their selection began with Volume One of the Journal and ended approximately ten years ago, as they thought that subsequent publications and their reviews would be relatively fresh in readers’ minds and thus would not provide a clear enough historical perspective.

In turn, we decided that our main criteria for selecting passages would be the following: the most interesting points made by the reviewer; the important aspects of the book reviewed including how the book was perceived to move on (or not) the theoretical and clinical discussion within analytical psychology; and excerpts which revealed the reviewers’ candid responses, including humorous and idiosyncratic touches, a startling turn of phrase, or even a stinging critique. The chosen passages do not constitute a summary of the chosen reviews but, in a sense, our responses to them.

In reading through the reviews, reflecting on the original books, and examining the passages we chose, we noticed how impossible it is to pinpoint the exact source of important concepts or techniques in the development of analytical psychology. One reason for this may be that our profession/enterprise/science/art (i.e. analytical psychology) is an interactive and discursive activity, where developments take place in the interactions between colleagues, either through published journal articles (the written word) or through lectures and seminars (the spoken word). By contrast, other scientific disciplines possibly rely more on book and journal publications where new discoveries are announced.

We were also struck by how some basic texts have only recently been