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This is a short, but very rich and intensely argued book (90 pp. of text to 40 pp. of notes and bibliography), which is based on four lectures on ‘Gender, Myth and Desire’ given to the Texas A & M University as the 1996 Fay Lecture Series.
The first chapter is a clear presentation of the ideas underpinning the rest of the book. It introduces concepts of postmodern philosophy - hermeneutics and constructivism in particular - that are used to correct certain ‘realist’ tendencies in Jungian thought. Young-Eisendrath argues for a postmodern approach to the difficult question of archetypal theory, which she sees as sometimes confused with Platonic ideals - universals existing beyond the human realm. This is not argued at the expense of the importance of archetypal patterns in human life; indeed one of the aspects that impressed me most about Young-Eisendrath's thought is her ability to integrate modern research in infant development, emotional intelligence and philosophy into a solid Jungian framework of archetype, complex, contrasexual images and the importance of mythology in constructing meaning.