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In the short compass of this book, a little more than 100 pages, Sonu Shamdasani presents us with an unusually complex argument regarding the interpretation of the work and life of C. G. Jung. Coming to terms with Shamdasani's position is important because he here lays claim to uniquely privileged insight into the meaning of Jung's work. This claim, I believe, is in fact the core issue in what otherwise presents itself as a critical overview of various attempts to write a biography of Jung, culminating in a detailed consideration of Deirdre Bair's Jung: a Biography (Bair 2003).
Structurally, the book divides into three parts. The first reviews the early efforts to induce Jung to write an autobiography, or otherwise address his life while he was still alive. In this portion, Shamdasani reviews the failed undertakings of Lucy Heyer, and the more successful project—insofar as it found its way to publication—of E.A. Bennett. At the same time, the renowned publisher, Kurt Wolff was beginning his efforts to induce Jung to write an autobiography, an enterprise that culminated, shortly after Jung's death, in the publication of Memories, Dreams, Reflections (Jung 1963). This portion of Shamdasani's account also includes a useful discussion of the process of translation and publication that brought us the Collected Works. The second section of the book is taken up with a series of brief commentaries on several of the biographies published after Jung's death, beginning with Henri Ellenberger, and moving through the works of Barbara Hannah, Paul Stern, Vincent Brome, Gerhard Wehr, Gene Nameche and R.D. Laing, Frank McLynn, and Ronald Hayman, with side trips and footnotes on several other writers, including the arch-Freudian, Kurt Eissler. The final section of the book at first appears to be the detailed critique of Bair's work, but it is also where