The Jungian Strand in Transatlantic Modernism
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The Jungian Strand in Transatlantic Modernism Jay Sherry The Jungian Strand in Transatlantic Modernism Jay Sherry History and Psychology Departments Long Island University Brooklyn, NY, USA ISBN 978-1-137-57821-1 ISBN 978-1-137-55774-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55774-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018945535 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Beatrice Hinkle and other attendees at the International Psychoanalytic Congress in Weimar, 1911. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-10504. Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Nature America, Inc. part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A. To Charlie Boyd, who’s heading up that last, long mountain valley “The art of seeing nature is a thing almost as much to be acquired as the art of reading the Egyptian hieroglyphics.” —John Constable ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank the staffs who helped me access so many important documents over the years and miles. First, at the Kristine Mann Library I want to thank Lorna Peachin for her long-time assistance and support. I want to thank Matt von Unwerth and Nellie Thompson at the Abraham A. Brill Library of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute for their con- tinuous help in my contextualizing the early years of psychoanalysis in the United States. Other local institutions were the New York Public Library, Columbia University Library, and the New School for Social Research. At Vassar College, Librarian Ron Patkus provided collections and Dean Colleen Mallet gave me access to the student records of some of the school’s illustrious early graduates. Nancy Kuhl and the staff at Yale’s Beinecke Library helped ensure that every minute sitting under the watch- ful gaze of Mary Foote’s portrait of Mabel Dodge was well-spent. Farther afield, my deepest thanks to the staffs of the libraries at the University of Pennsylvania, Radcliffe College, the University of Delaware, the University of North Carolina, the College of Charleston, The South Carolina Historical Society, UCLA, and the Library of Congress. Susan Stein warmed up one very cold day in Boston by providing me with the file on Jung in the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Archives. I want to thank Jennifer Maxson of the Opus Archives at Pacifica Graduate Center for being such a patient intermediary to the Joseph Campbell Foundation. During a month-long stay in Santa Fe, Jane Dickinson gave me a local’s perspective on the region. There I met Tomas Jaehn of the New Mexico History Museum Library who helped me get an up-close look at the formative years of the town’s art colony. Eumi Imm-Stroukoff and Tori Duggan of ix x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS the Georgia O’Keeffe Research Center gave me the time and resources to track the Jungian thread that I knew I would find in its collection. I visited Taos at an unusually propitious time and had the good fortune to attend the exhibition, performance, and symposium on the life of Mabel Dodge Luhan. Talking with Liz Cunningham at Luhan’s Los Gallos and visiting the Lawrence Ranch conveyed the “spirit of place” that has drawn so many there. My appreciation goes out to Lois Rudnick, who took Chap. 4 to the woodshed for some very straight talk, and extends to the anony- mous readers who weighed in on the project with the proviso that any errors and all interpretations are strictly my own. Long Island University supported my research trip with a stipend for which I am most grateful. This book began with my wanting to learn more about the life and career of Beatrice Hinkle. The scholarship of Kate Wittenstein and Ben Harris got me started, my thanks to you both. Kate, after all these years as an internet colleague, I am still looking forward to our finally getting to meet face-to-face. My outreach to the Hinkle family meant that my research got more personal so I want to thank Philip, Sandra, and Kristin Hinkle for their hospitality, family stories and documents. Ted Bent, cur- rent owner of Smoky Hollow, opened his door and became my local guide to Beatrice’s life in the country. Exploring Hinkle’s network led me to Kahlil Gibran and the scholarship of Tania Sammons at the Telfair Museum. Jennifer Marck Moran at the City and Country School helped me discover how Jung figured in the pedagogy of New York’s early progressive educa- tors; this led, in turn, to Blythe Hinitz and Jeroen Staring who shared their deep historical knowledge of progressive education and the Alexander Method. Immersion in all this material meant that I was constructing a narrative about Greenwich Village cultural history that lay outside the one populated by “all the usual suspects.” I was rewarded from every conversa- tion that I had with Joel Spingarn Tranum about his mother and grandpar- ents. Finally, Thomas Fischer of the Stiftung der Werke der C. G. Jung was always generous with his time and expertise whenever I had a question. Some friends stayed in the grandstands through rain and shine to cheer this project on, they are Brad Te Paske, Beth Darlington, Deirdre Westgate, and Judy Evans. Brad, all of our road trips continue to inspire me; Beth, you blazed the trail about the role Vassar women played in all this important history; Deirdre, your sleuthing and politicking meant that a valuable document has seen the light of day, merci; Judy, you helped me see the images in the Red Book through the eyes of an artist, thanks for that and for so much else. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi I want to thank Kristin Purdy, my first editor at Palgrave Macmillan, for her enthusiastic embrace of my proposal and her insightful advice in giving it definition. Megan Laddusaw and Christine Pardue picked up where she left off and have deftly guided it to completion. Jonathan and Jamie Kalb carried on a Park Slope Copy Center tradition by helping me with timely technical support. My thanks extend to Jakir Hussain who made sure that things in the engine room were always running smoothly. Finally, to my daughter Dana for her help on the sociogram and to my wife Linda without whom this book would never have happened. Thanks for giving me the time, space, and support on every level to see this through to the finish line. CONTENTS 1 American Dream, Myth, Nightmare 1 2 Beatrice Hinkle and the New Frontiers in Mental Health 17 3 Cultural Ferment in Greenwich Village 37 4 Moving On in the 1920s 61 5 Depression and Wartime 103 Conclusion 139 Appendices 141 Bibliography 151 Index 163 xiii LIST OF IMaGES Image 1 Jung’s life mask (1915). © 2007 Foundation of the Works of C.G. Jung, Zürich 52 Image 2 Beatrice Hinkle (1909), front piece of Psychotherapy. Courtesy of the Kristine Mann Library, New York 53 Image 3 “Indian Composition” (1914) by Marsden Hartley. Part of the “Amerika” series. Oil on canvas. Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, gift of Paul Rosenfeld, 1950.1.5 54 Image 4 “Mabel Dodge” (circa 1912) by Mary Foote. Beinecke Library, Yale University 55 Image 5 “Miss O’Keefe looks like a thoroughbred horse” (Anita Pollitzer notebook, 1915). Courtesy of the South Carolina Historical Society 55 Image 6 Ad copy for The Customs of Mankind by Lillian Eichler (Doubleday, 1925). Penguin Random House 56 Image 7 The Polzeath Conference (1923), from left: Jung, daughter Gret, wife Emma, Toni Wolff, Charles Aldrich, Peter Baynes, George Porter. Courtesy of the Kristine Mann Library, New York 57 Image 8 The Bailey Island Conference (1936) by Frances S. Bode. Courtesy of the Kristine Mann Library, New York 57 Image 9 Jung (1928) by Amy Spingarn. Courtesy of the late Amy Spingarn 58 xv xvi List of Images Image 10 John Graham, 1939 / unidentified photographer. John D. Graham papers, 1799–1988, bulk 1890–1961. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution 59 Image 11 Joseph Campbell and Jean Erdman in Japan. The Joseph Campbell Foundation 60 INTRODUCTION When the role of psychology in the master narrative of modernism is mentioned, it usually goes something like this, “William James, Freud, and others.” Carl Jung, their colleague and one of the preeminent psy- chiatrists of the day, is relegated to an occasional cameo appearance (Peter Gay’s sole reference is to Pollock’s Jungian therapy) and his photo is a blur in the poster for Clark University’s 2009 centennial conference hon- oring Freud’s only visit to the United States, one at which Jung also spoke (see Image 1).