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In this long and highly readable book Frank McLynn paints a picture of Jung which is almost entirely unflattering, and at times positively scandalous. Some parts of the book are unpleasantly gripping, like a newspaper exposé of sleaze in high places. Jung is accused of making unprofessional relationships with female patients, of cruel competitiveness with male colleagues and friends, of complicity with the Nazis (at least, by neglect), of bullying Emma by ‘analysing’ her resistance to polygamy, and of many other characteristics which would lead to him being unworthy of trust or respect. Many newspaper reviews of this book have, not surprisingly, focused on these aspects of his character. McLynn does painstakingly describe Jung's work, but his character is so thoroughly criticized that his insights come across as fatally flawed.
I think the key to appreciating this book lies in the preface, when McLynn tells us (p. x) that he is not a clinician, and that he has made a point of not consulting ‘expert advice or academic readings’. His approach to Jung is that of an ordinary man, with all of the disapproval and none of the clinical compassion or appreciation. In several ways the book reveals just how disturbed Jung was, struggling all his life, and especially after the break from Freud, to manage borderline states. Of course, unlike most people, whilst Jung was suffering this ‘creative illness’ he also described it, both intentionally and unintentionally.
Although referring to Jung's illness, McLynn, not being an analyst, fails to recognize the implications of it—both positive and negative—for Jung's life and for his ideas, and instead blames him for failures to be ‘well’. For example (p. 316) ‘Acres of print could have been saved if Jung had come clean and admitted that he was a prophet’. McLynn gives many examples of Jung's grandiosity, hypersensitivity to criticism, intense self-doubt leading to a proliferation of justifications for his ideas, shame leading to defensiv