The Stuff That Dreams Are Made on: A Jungian Interpretation of Literature (Chiron Monograph Series: Volume 5)

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