Creative Man : The Collected Essays of Erich Neumann

An essential exploration of creativity by one of the twentieth century’s foremost Jungian psychologists

Though said to be C. G. Jung’s favorite and most innovative student, Erich Neumann provoked controversy within the Jungian community. While his work presents a wealth of material illustrating Jung’s ideas, his interpretations go far beyond those ideas to open important avenues between analytical psychology and the study of literature and art. This landmark book brings together five of his most illuminating essays on creativity. Written over a span of years about diverse personalities—Franz Kafka, Marc Chagall, Georg Trakl, Sigmund Freud, and Jung—these essays share a common theme: the relationship between the personal and the transpersonal, the ego and the archetype. An engaging analysis of the psyche as the source of religious and artistic creation, Creative Man asks how creativity can best be fostered, how the feminine stimulates creativity in men as well as women, and how artistic creation, but also the history of human consciousness more broadly, reflect this ongoing creative movement.