Children’s Dreams: Notes from the Seminar given in 1936-1940

Edited by Maria Meyer-Grass and Lorenz Jung.

Translated by Ernst Falzeder with the collaboration of Tony Woolfson

In the 1930s C. G. Jung embarked upon a bold investigation into childhood dreams as remembered by adults, in order to understand their significance in the subsequent lives of the dreamers. Jung presented his findings in a four-year seminar series at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Children’s Dreams marks their first publication in English and fills a critical gap in Jung’s collected works.

We witness Jung the clinician more vividly than ever before — witty, impatient, sometimes authoritarian, always wise and intellectually daring – but also the teacher who, though brilliant, could be vulnerable, uncertain, and humble in the face of life’s great mysteries. These seminars provide a penetrating summation of Jung’s insights into children’s dreams and the psychology of childhood. At the same time, they offer the best example of group supervision by Jung and present an account of how he taught others to interpret dreams. An invaluable document, this splendid volume is the fullest representation of Jung’s views on the interpretation of children’s dreams. It is a companion volume to Dream Interpretation Ancient And Modern: Notes from the Seminar Given in 1936-1940.

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ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

Princeton University Press, Princeton/Oxford
ISBN: 978069113322
514 pages, 6 × 9, 12 line illustrations

Lorenz Jung was a grandson of C. G. Jung. He was a Jungian analyst in private practice. Maria Meyer-Grass is a Jungian analyst in private practice.

ENDORSEMENTS

“This is Jung on dream analysis in more detail than has yet been published. It reveals Jung as an educator in dialogue with his students in a more casual exchange than a formal lecture but one that shows more depth and spontaneity as a give-and-take exchange. A unique feature of the work is that it presents a detailed exposition of the application of archetypal psychology to the dreams of childhood as they have been remembered by adults.\”—Eugene Taylor, author of William James on Consciousness beyond the Margin

“A fascinating offering. It is always a pleasure to watch Jung go to work on a dream, and this book gives an invaluable picture of how he taught others to interpret dreams as well as how he approached them himself. Here, the clinician comes forward, and the dreams and their likely significance for the life of the dreamer remain the focus throughout.”—John Beebe, editor of Aspects of the Masculine

REVIEW

“Published with the support of the Philemon Foundation, this fascinating work on children\’s dreams comprises texts from a four-year seminar series at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. This is the first appearance in English of these seminars, and the present volume is considered the first supplement to The Collected Works of C. G. Jung. . . . Presented as an informal exchange in a conversational format, the book is overall more accessible than the concentrated presentation in Collected Works. This invaluable resource will delight scholars of Jung and anyone interested in his works.”—J. Bailey, Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute, for Choice

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