Little attention has been paid to Emma Jung's role in the history of analytical psychology and in the life of C. G. Jung. This extended biographical essay by Imelda Gaudissart, originally published in French, provides us with a carefully detailed view of this remarkable woman. Gaudissart's sensitive depiction of Emma Jung reveals a very real woman confronted with an unexpected life and challenged to develop in ways that, for a wife and mother of that period, were almost unimaginable. She worked closely with her husband, C. G. Jung, and Sigmund Freud, becoming herself an analyst, and she was instrumental in establishing the earliest institutions for analytical psychology. The issues Emma Jung faced on her path to individuation will resonate with those of many women today.
"The importance of Emma Jung in the life of C. G. Jung has often been either taken for granted or underestimated, and her rightful place in the history of analytical psychology has rarely been given serious consideration. Imelda Gaudissart has managed to correct this imbalance and to provide us with a highly nuanced portrayal of this remarkable woman without falling into idealization or caricature. Any understanding of Jung is incomplete without an understanding of Emma's contribution. I highly recommend this book." -Tom Kelly, past president of the International Association for Analytical Psychology
"The psychodynamics of the relationships between Emma, Carl, Sabina, and Toni are fascinating, and Emma's composure and contributions under such difficult circumstances are miraculous. This is a story about the amazing varieties of love in this world-always combined, sooner or later, with some sort of a pain but always stronger in the end. Beyond therapists and historians of psychology, this book serves all who want to grow, but who are sometimes frustrated by the trials of life. Emma's achievements have so much to teach us." -John Cerullo, professor of history, University of New Hampshire at Manchester
"Imelda Gaudissart has the great merit of having molded the biographical material about Emma Jung-Rauschenbach into an interesting and moving essay. She helps to keep alive the memory of this remarkable, brave, and generous woman, my beloved grandmother." -Jost Hoerni, one of Emma Jung's nineteen grandchildren
Imelda Gaudissart has a master's in psychopathology and has been a Jungian analyst for more than thirty years. She is the coauthor, with her husband Pierre, of a new translation of the I Ching. Married and head of a large family, she lives in Tours, on the Loire Valley.
Kathleen Llanwarne, English by birth, now lives in Brussels where she has worked as a translator for thirty years. Her interest in the work of C. G. Jung and in Jungian analysis dates back even further.