Obituary

1915-1998

Marie-Louise von Franz, the last of C. G. Jung's direct students and collaborators, died on February 17, 1998.

She began working with Jung in 1934, exchanging translations of Greek and Latin texts for analysis; it was a task that she was to continue for the rest of her life: first as a young student, then as a colleague and co-worker, and after his death in a total commitment to the continuation of his work.

Many of Jung's germinating ideas were tended and further developed by her into her own full-blown theories: for example, her unique means of interpreting fairy tales and myths from a depth-psychological perspective, the continuation of his thoughts on synchronicity and her researches into the connections between matter and psyche.

It was she who best understood the essence of what Jung was after; that was her unique strength, but also her limitation: she strongly identified with his work and thus she had little use for some later interpretations of Jungian concepts that placed it in a new context.

Her lectures and seminars over the years at the Jung Institute in Zürich were fascinating: she stimulated great enthusiasm among her students who were inspired by the results of the far-reaching investigations which she presented. Her sharp intellect, combined with great intuition and a healthy portion of ‘down-to-earthness’ could always be experienced in her impressive presentations.

Una Thomas, always in the front row, did not miss a word and wrote it all down, including the discussion. Many of her notes were subsequently published by James Hillman at Spring Publications in the so-called ‘Seminar Series’. In these books, one encounters the real Marie-Louise von Franz: her intellectual agility, her wit, also her convictions, which she did not easily allow to be questioned. The fascination in her courses came in large part because she placed everything in a tradition of the history of the humanities.

This could also be experienced in personal analysis with her: rela