Journal of Psychological Therapies 5(2) 229–235 (2020)

BOOK REVIEWS

Labyrinths: Emma Jung, Her Marriage to Carl and the Early Years of Psychoanalysis by Catrine Clay. London: William Collins/HarperCollins Publishers, 2016, 406 pages, £20, ISBN 978-0-00-751066-5.

Reviewed by Brett Kahr*

It may not be widely known that Martha Bernays Freud, the wife of Professor and, moreover, the epitome of the nineteenth-century Hausfrau, looked after her husband so devotedly that she even squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush every single day and night (Berthelsen, 1987; Roazen, 1993, 1995). The Frau Professor did so, not only as an expression of the subservient position of women at that point in history but, also, in order to save Professor Freud precious time, which he required to treat his patients and to write his many books and papers. This domestic detail, which many contemporary feminists might find rather shocking, raises a number of very important questions about the lives of great men and, indeed, great women. One wonders whether, in order to become hugely successful, our innovators and geniuses truly require a fleet of servants to slather toothpaste onto their brushes so that they might thus shield themselves from such annoying nuisances. Can these people not manage on their own? What role do spouses play in the lives of hugely pro- ductive and creative individuals? And do we, as mental health practitioners, have anything to learn from the domestic lives of our distinguished fore- fathers and foremothers? Hitherto, few psychotherapists or biographers have, to the best of my knowledge, written much about the marriages of the great founders of our profession. My own study of both the first and second wives of Dr Donald Winnicott offers a small insight into the unconscious factors which propelled the noted British psychoanalyst towards each of these women and, also, examines the impact of Winnicott’s lengthy personal analyses with James Strachey and Joan Riviere upon his marital relationships. Furthermore, I consider the role of Winnicott’s wives in the development of his creative work (Kahr, 2019). But few colleagues have published comparable studies of other pioneers. Fortunately, due to the efforts of the writer and historian Catrine Clay, we now have the privilege of reading a magnificent biography of none other than Emma Rauschenbach Jung, the long-standing (and long-suffering) wife of Dr Carl Gustav Jung. Arguably, this study may well be the most detailed

* Copyright © 2019, 2020, 2021, by Professor Brett Kahr. Please do not quote without the permission of the author.

Contact: Brett Kahr, email: [email protected] 230 BRETT KAHR portrait of a psychoanalytical marriage to date and thus a source of much insight. Catrine Clay, a former producer-director who worked for many years at the British Broadcasting Corporation, and who contributed to the flagship programme Timewatch, has crafted a truly excellent biography of Frau Doktor Jung, based upon extensive research, enhanced by revealing inter- views with several of Emma Jung’s surviving grandchildren, including Adrian Baumann, Andreas Jung, and Brigitte Merk, all of whom shared reminis- cences of their grandparents and some of whom offered copious photo- graphs, many never published previously. Drawing upon such a wealth of primary oral historical and pictorial material, Ms Clay has succeeded in sculpt- ing a rich and detailed life of a remarkable woman who not only served as the consort to one of the most influential figures in modern psychology but who also shone as a pioneer in her own right. Born on 30 March, 1882, in , Switzerland, Emma Rauschenbach—the future wife of Carl Gustav Jung—grew up amid con- siderable privilege. Her grandfather, Johannes Rauschenbach, earned a great deal of money as a manufacturer of agricultural machinery and, sub- sequently, as the owner of a successful company of watchmakers, the Internazionale Uhren Fabrik. Her father, Jean Rauschenbach, became a prominent industrialist in his own right and lived with his wife, Bertha Schenk Rauschenbach, and their two daughters—Emma and Marguerite—in the Haus zum Rosengarten—a seventeenth-century mansion on the banks of the Rhein. As a girl, Emma Rauschenbach attended a Mädchenrealschule—a special- ist school for young females—and became highly educated and literate. She also played the piano. And she enjoyed the benefits of the family’s wealth. During adolescence, the Rauschenbach clan moved from their mansion house to Ölberg, an ancient castle replete with a medieval chapel. This spacious new home afforded Emma and her sister an entire floor all to them- selves. Alas, this seemingly idyllic lifestyle had its side, and, at some point, Emma’s father began to lose his eyesight as a result of syphilis, contracted, according to a family source, from a visit to a prostitute in Budapest, Hungary. Emma, then aged twelve years, undertook the task of reading to her father. Perhaps such a traumatic experience sensitised the young Emma to the ugly side of domestic life and provided her with an understanding of the unusual work of asylum doctors, not least, that of her future husband. Although Carl Gustav Jung grew up in an infinitely more modest family, son of a pastor, Emma found the young asylum physician compelling, and the couple married on 14 February, 1903, in a civil ceremony followed by a magnificent ball. Two days later, on 16 February, 1903, the couple enjoyed a church wedding, and then, on 1 March, 1903, the Rauschenbach factory and foundry celebrated the marriage with a sumptuous banquet consisting of twelve courses. BOOK REVIEWS 231

But the newly wed Emma Jung did not confine herself to luxuries and fripperies. She embarked upon the study of Latin so that she could better understand many of her husband’s medical textbooks; additionally, she took special lessons in mathematics; and she practised her handwriting so that she would become more fully able to help her husband write his case reports at the Burghölzli asylum, where he then worked as an Irrenarzt—a doctor of the mad. Emma Jung not only enhanced her own education in order to assist her husband with his professional commitments but, additionally, she made excursions to a library in nearby Zürich in order to research the legend of the Holy Grail, which would become a lifetime study for Frau Doktor Jung. Furthermore, she became increasingly familiar with the daily life of asylum patients and often dined with them and accompanied them on walks. She also participated in an evening discussion group with the Burghölzli asylum doctors and their spouses. She even assisted her husband with his now- famous word association experiments. Over the years, Emma Jung gave birth to five children. The couple enjoyed a rich marital life which consisted not only of caring for their four daughters and their son but, also, sharing their joint passion for modern psy- chology. Emma Jung even accompanied her husband on his first visit to Professor Sigmund Freud in Vienna, Austria, in 1907; and, moreover, she attended the third congress of the Internationaler Psychoanalytischer Vereinigung [International Psycho-Analytical Association] in Weimar, Germany, in 1911, along with several other pioneering females, including Lou Andreas-Salomé, Dr Beatrice Hinkle, and Antonia Wolff, all of whom became practitioners and theoreticians in their own right. Emma Jung and her associates would have had the opportunity to listen to such psychoanalytical celebrities as Dr Karl Abraham, Professor Eugen Bleuler, Dr Sándor Ferenczi, Dr Otto Rank, and others deliver papers, including Professor Sigmund Freud, who spoke on the case of the psychotic judge, Daniel Paul Schreber. Emma Jung’s proficiency in the study of depth psychology became so profound that, in 1916, she became the first president of the newly founded Psychologischer Club [Psychological Club]—a group of Jungian enthusiasts in Zürich—sponsored by one of Carl Gustav Jung’s most wealthy patients, Edith Rockefeller McCormick, daughter of the oil baron John D. Rockefeller. Emma Jung first lectured to the club on the psychology of guilt and, subsequently, she spoke about the animus-anima configuration and, also, about the Holy Grail. Additionally, Frau Doktor Jung began to practise as an analyst with patients. She even became an international lecturer when, in 1932, she deliv- ered a talk to the Club in London—a sister organisation to the Psychologischer Club of Zürich. As Emma Jung aged, she published numerous investigations based on her research. Moreover, she continued to develop her own skills and capacities, and in 1929, she purchased a Dodge Sedan and learned how to drive a motor car. Above all, she somehow found a way to tolerate her husband’s multiple 232 BRETT KAHR infidelities, including his very intimate association with a colleague, Antonia Wolff. On 27 November, 1955, Emma Jung, a long-standing and loyal wife, a mother to five children, and a grandmother to nineteen boys and girls, died from cancer at the age of seventy-three years. Lamenting her death, described her thus to his British colleagues, Dr Michael Fordham and Frieda Fordham, “She was a queen. She was a queen.” (Quoted on p. 342.) Back in 1931, Carl Jung spoke to a group of American women and lamented:

You American women wear too fancy hats. That is because you are afraid there is nothing inside your heads. You should go and buy a plain hat on the Bahnhof Strasse; and show some respect for what is inside your heads. (Quoted in Gildea, 1980, p. 126)

Although Jung did not always treat the women in his life with full respect— witness his extramarital affairs—he did, however, encourage the intellectual- ity of females as typified by his remarkable spouse. We owe Catrine Clay, the biographer, a great debt for having treated us to such a rich study of the life of Emma Jung which, also, serves as a marvel- lous introduction to the personal and professional worlds of Carl Jung as well. I recommend this book most warmly as an excellent refresher for those already well-steeped in Jungiana and as a wonderful point of entry for those discovering both Carl Jung and Emma Jung for the very first time.

References Berthelsen, Detlef (1987). Alltag bei Familie Freud: Die Erinnerungen der Paula Fichtl. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe Verlag. Gildea, Margaret C.-L. (1980). Some Notes About the Jung Experience in 1931, pp. 122–127. In George E. Gifford, Jr., William McGuire, Margaret C.-L. Gildea, and Robert E. Bosnak. Jung: As Seen by an Editor, a Student, and a Disciple. In Edwin R. Wallace IV and Lucius C. Pressley (Eds.). Essays in the History of Psychiatry: A Tenth Anniversary Supplementary Volume to the Psychiatric Forum, pp. 119–134. Columbia, South Carolina: William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute of the South Carolina Department of Mental Health. Kahr, Brett (2019). The First Mrs Winnicott and the Second Mrs Winnicott: Does Psychoanalysis Facilitate Healthy Marital Choice? Couple and Family Psychoanalysis, 9: 105–131. Roazen, Paul (1993). Meeting Freud’s Family. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. Roazen, Paul (1995). How Freud Worked: First-Hand Accounts of Patients. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.