The two dominant philosophers (in the broadest sense) of the twentieth century have been Freud and Marx. As the century dwindles away, they too seem to be fading in influence. It will be interesting to see how much reference is made to either in the twenty‐first century. Freud, in particular, was concerned about the continuation of his ideas, and the need for heirs to carry them on. Up until 1913 Jung was most clearly Freud’s recognized heir, and the split between them still reverberates in psychoanalytic circles. There seems to me to be at least some possibility that Jung’s more mystical ideas may outlive those of his mentor. There certainly is enough containing interest in him to justify the publication of a Cambridge Companion.
The book itself is rather a mixed bag. There are 15 chapters and an introduction, by a total of 18 contributors. Some of these were clearly written for a “handbook” or an “introduction” to Jung. Some were written for a “companion” and some seem to have been written for something else entirely and tacked in to fill out the book. Some of these latter papers are quite interesting. I enjoyed reading Russo’s “Jungian analysis of Homer’s Odyssey” (partly because I have always felt that Jung’s study of Joyce’s Ulysses is one of the weakest of his works that I have read). It is really an example of Jungian ideas put into literary practice, rather than a straightforward contribution to a companion, however.
There are quite a number of cheap basic introductions to Jung[1‐3]. This is a worthy addition to the collection. Public libraries and academic libraries dealing with courses in psychology, anthropology, philosophy, etc., that already have some of these, and, of course, the collected works[4], could usefully add this to their lending stock, where it is likely to find enthusiastic readers.
