Jung believed that great literature compensates for collective psychic imbalance, either by offering alternatives or by reflecting the imbalance. In this study, Snider explores Jung's theories by focusing on a wide selection of Western literature. Included are chapters on Merlin as he was portrayed by Victorian authors, Swinburne's Tristram of Lyonesse, Virginia Woolfs Orlando and The Waves, The Member of the Wedding and Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the poetry of W. H. Auden.
“The Stuff That Dreams Are Made On is a clear, straightforward treatment—free of academic and psychoanalytic jargon—of Jungian literary criticism. Snider’s introduction is not only a first rate exposition of Jungian literary theory, but a lucid explanation of Jungian psychology as well. Particularly valuable is his chapter on Carson McCullers. All in all, a solid piece of critical work.” -David Peck, professor of English and American Studies, author of Novels of Initiation
Clifton Snider, Ph.D., is the author of six books of poetry, including Blood and Bones and Impervious to Piranhas. His poetry, fiction, reviews, and articles on literature, composition, and popular culture have appeared in numerous journals. A specialist in Jungian analysis of literature, he is included in Natoli's Psychological perspectives on Literature. He teaches literature, composition, and creative writing at California State University, Long Beach.
Table of Contents
Jungian Theory and Its Literary Application
The Archetypal Wise Old Man: Merlin in Nineteenth-Century British Literature
The Archetypal Self in Swinburne's Tristram of Lyonesse
A Jungian Analysis of Schizophrenia in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray
Androgyny in Virginia Woolf: Jungian Interpretations of Orlando and The Waves
Two Myths for Our Time: Carson McCullers's The Member of the Wedding and Clock Without Hands
The Archetype of Love in the Age of Anxiety: W. H. Auden
