The Feminine Case

Jung, Aesthetics and Creative Process

Tessa Adams, Andrea Duncan, Tessa Adams, Andrea Duncan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Topic: Psychology
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429920776
• Subtopic: Feminist Literary Criticism
• Index: Psychology

The Feminine Case is a collection of papers that debate the issue of gender from a Jungian perspective. Particular attention is paid to the discussion of Jung's "transcendent function" and what this offers women in the process of individualisation. Attention is also given to the revisionist work of James Hillman and to relevant issues found within post-Lacanian critique, principally in the works of Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and Helene Cixous. The chapters deal with a range of issues and aim to promote further discussion. One theme discussed in the book is the way in which feminine language is formed within a masculine domain and how it can and is changing. Works of literature, notably those of Charlotte Bronte and The Tempest, are explored and examined in conjunction with Jungian themes. The feminine in relation to the maternal, and in its lack of relation to the divine, are two other engaging topics discussed in this volume. This collection involves the reader in a welcome debate on the role of the feminine in the Jungian world.

CHAPTER ONE

Toni Wolff: a struggle for self-definition

Tessa Adams

“Toni Wolff

Lotus

Nun

Mysterious”

An inscription carved by Jung, in memoriam¹

Toni Wolff

Much has been written on Antonia Wolff (1888-1953). The most obvious point of interest is her relationship with Jung. She was a former student and patient who became Jung’s acknowledged confidante and valued assistant. Her life spanned four decades of collaboration with him. Many details of their professional and personal partnership can only be speculated upon, due to destruction of their correspondence, by Jung, after her death.² However, a certain impression of Jung’s excitement at his first meeting with the young Toni Wolff survives in a letter to Freud, in which he speaks of her as a “new discovery” with a “remarkable intellect” and “excellent feeling for philosophy and religion” (Freud & Jung, 1974, p. 440). At the age of twenty-two Wolff was seeking analysis with Jung for a severe depression caused by the loss of her father. We can only imagine the impact upon her of this unprecedented reception from such a leading male figure (see Wehr, 1987, p. 94).

Wolff was not the first student and patient to whom Jung had become attached, and with regard to whom his wife, Emma, had to learn forbearance. Sabina Spielrein, a young Russian medical student, whom Jung presented as a case of a “successful analysis of neurosis” had preceded Toni Wolff (Freud & Jung, 1974, p. 207). This was a time when Jung—in his early thirties, with his energetic intelligence and extraordinary vision of the potential of the human psyche—attracted much attention from students of both sexes. In contrast to Freud, Jung was more open about those upon whom he bestowed his affection. In Wolff’s case, she enjoyed the security of his patronage even though this was in direct opposition to the wishes of Emma (Wehr, 1987, pp. 186-187).

Anthony Stevens points out that it was Jung’s view “that for men there exist two types of women: the wife and mother, and the Jemme inspiratrice’”, which bolstered Jung’s justification for this unconventional association (Stevens, 1990, p. 160). Stevens goes on to claim that Jung’s desire to locate woman as either maternal or inspirational derived from childhood experience, when his mother, incapacitated by illness, left the four-year-old Jung in the care of a young maid. Of the maid Jung remarks, “I still remember her picking me up and laying my head against her shoulder. She had black hair and an olive complexion, and was quite different from my mother” (Jung, 1963, p. 23). Jung continues by stating that the feelings of mystery and familiarity that the young woman evoked led him to believe that she was solely in his possession, all of which had a lasting affect upon him. We are told:

This type of girl later became a component of my anima. The feeling of strangeness that she conveyed, and yet of having known her always was a characteristic of that figure which later came to symbolize for me the whole essence of womanhood. [Jung, 1963, p. 23]

It is certainly the case that Wolff’s complexion matched that of the young maid; and Wolff did become virtually “within Jung’s possession”. Furthermore it is Wolffs mysterious quality which is most remarked upon by those who have written about her, not least—of course—by Jung himself in the epitaph inscription quoted above. Stevens also is typical in this respect. He remarks that since “Jung had found his femme inspiratrice” he would have had difficulty resisting the “intense and compellingly mysterious young girl who arrived for analysis” (Stevens, 1990, p. 160). It would appear that this mysterious quality was also experienced by Wolff’s analysands. We have, for example, the interesting testimony of Tina Keller, who tells us about Wolff’s enigmatic persona and the complexity of her position within the Jungian menage. On her first meeting with Wolff in 1928, Keller writes: “Toni Wolff had a kind of mystery about her. She was very close to Jung; she was always seen together with Dr and Mrs Jung at all meetings and lectures of the Psychological Club” (Keller, 1982, p. 285).³

One of the surprising facets of analytical life within Zurich, at the time Jung’s reputation was developing, was the apparent flexibility of the analytical frame. This may well have been due to an attempt on Jung’s part to compensate Emma Jung and Toni Wolff, in terms of their need for a degree of independent professional standing. Barbara Hannah describes how her analysis with Jung also provided her with a personal friendship, sufficient to enable her to benefit from further analyses with both Emma Jung and Toni Wolff. It is interesting that, for Hannah, to experience an analysis with Jung fully, it appeared necessary for her to have touched also upon the analytical landscape of the two women he held so close. This arrangement in turn contributed to Hannah’s own influential position within the profession, and her distinguished writings on Jung’s life and work (see Hannah, 1976).

However, the value of Hannah’s tripartite analysis is less surprising when we consider the contribution of both Emma Jung and Toni Wolff to Jung’s thinking on the feminine psyche, which—arguably—reflects the ways in which Jung’s compromising affections influenced each partner. For instance, we can interpret Emma Jung’s focus on the male soul-image, through her study of the anima, as the means by which she grappled with the vicissitudes of the male psyche in a bid to mitigate the confusion of the unfaithfulness which Jung brought into their relationship. Similarly, Wolff’s exploration of the complexities of the feminine, in her Structural Forms of the Feminine Psyche (1956) can be interpreted as the process by which she validated her submission to the weight of Jung’s paternal dominance. We might say that each woman indicated the “type” that Jung projected on to them: namely, Emma Jung the “earth-mother-wife”; and Toni Wolff the ”femme inspiratrice” (Stem, 1976, p. 133).

In a consideration of Wolff’s contribution to the development of Jungian thinking, it is valuable to examine the ways in which the paradox of her position within the profession has been variously evaluated. As if to maintain the honour of Jung in this unorthodox relationship, Hannah refers to Jung’s initial avoidance of a sexual encounter with Wolff as a young analysand. It appears that Jung, after the analysis, resisted seeing Wolff for three years, after which she began to slip back into the depression which had brought her to him in the first instance (Hannah, 1976, p. 119). Since Jung had been approached originally by Wolff’s mother, requesting a cure for her daughter’s distress, this liaison could not have been a more sensitive issue. Hannah, in accord with Stevens’ view, ventures that Jung was hardly in a position to avoid the intense relationship which followed. She tells us that their meeting was essentially archetypal, in that Wolff was “the most fitted of all ‘anima types’ to carry the projection” which Jung would inevitably place upon her—an anima projection which endowed her with the “whole numinous quality of his unconscious” (Hannah, 1976, p. 118).

This view of Wolff as the embodiment of Jung’s soul-image entails that Wolff is not perceived as simply a partner in a robust affair; rather she is promoted as possessing the fascination of a muse. It is interesting how many accounts of her seem to bear this out. On the whole, writers either exemplify Wolff’s mysterious gifts in assisting “the great man”, or remark upon her awkward dependency upon Jung’s affections. For example, Hannah emphasizes Jung’s need for Wolff in mediating his period of virtual psychosis, pointing to what she terms Wolff’s “extraordinary genius for accompanying men whose destiny it was to enter the unconscious” (Hannah, 1976, p. 118). While, in opposite terms, Stem frames their relationship as predominantly negative, stating that it was troubled by Wolff’s manipulative vulnerability, and her insistence that Jung should act as a “demigod” in order to inspire her (Stem, 1976, p. 137).

What is even more significant, however, is the way in which Wolff’s own writing gives us a clear indication of the complexity of her position, and moreover, draws attention to the socio-cultural dynamic that impeded those women of her time who were concerned with entering a professional arena normally reserved for men. Wolff refers to the “modern woman”—apparently including herself—and the issue of women’s need for self-actualization, which later therapeutic models have sought to address.⁴ Yet, at the same time, she accepts Jung’s formulation of the soul/spirit dichotomy in which the men are seen to be in tune with their social presence and active role, and women are somewhat at odds with it. This conflict of concerns, in which Wolff bids women to find their voice even while she appears unconditionally to accept Jung’s leadership, demonstrates her vulnerable position within the analytical profession. Within an environment that acknowledged women primarily in terms of the status of their husbands, Wolff must have been constantly dependent on Jung’s positive attention. For as neither wife or doctor her social standing was absent.

Perhaps it was this anomalous position which also contributed to Wolff’s reticence when it came to publishing her work, for she was hardly in a position to challenge publicly the very support upon which she relied. It could account also for her concentration on the feminine psyche; an arena that lent her the opportunity to speak both independently from Jung and to illuminate an area of discussion concerning which Jung, as a male, might feel less knowledgeable. That is to say, drawing upon Jung’s theory of psychological types to produce a new framework linked solely to the feminine psyche, Wolff appears to have been taking pains not to place herself publicly in competition with or in opposition to Jung’s professional authority.

However, Jung paid Wolff the privilege of making her his valued assistant, and in so doing awarded her a central responsibility within the early network of analytical psychology. She was, after all, in a unique position: she had directly experienced Jung’s analytical method, whilst barely out of her adolescence, and—later—had offered her psychological support to Jung, during one of the most difficult periods of his life. She was a discerning and imaginative presence in the active promotion of Jungian practice. Her reputation as teacher and as an analyst was fully acknowledged both by those who received analysis from her—such as Hannah—and by many other writers who have sought to evaluate this formative period of Jungian psychology. Gerhard Wehr, for example, points out that it was Wolff who inspired Jung to form the Zurich Psychological Club, as a professional environment in which the communal aspect of his thinking could be actualized.

The fact that this Zurich community was identified originally as a “club” is indicative of Jung’s desire specifically to counter the exclusivity of one-to-one analytical treatment. It tells us much about Jung’s divergence from Freud, from the psychoanalytic couch. For Jung held that the social and collective dimension of experience should play its part in analytical exchange. It was this aspect of Jung’s work which fuelled the break from Freud in 1914, and which led to the different positions that analytical psychology and psychoanalysis currently maintain.

The Psychological Club comprised a high proportion of women members in its early days, so it can be imagined how crucial Wolff’s presence became (Wehr, 1987, p. 218). The original membership embraced prospective Jungian analysts who went to Zurich to see either Jung or Wolff, and who, as analysands and students, sought to benefit from a community in which group process was explored alongside seminal debate (Samuels, 1994, p. 139). A significant force in the development of analytical psychology was supplied by the exceptional women practitioners, whose influence was fostered within the society. Many of these women furthered the establishment of Jungian Institutes internationally. Jung described this highly unusual educational and analytical forum as a “silent experiment of group psychology” (Jung, 1959, p. 469), of which he was undoubtedly the primary interpreter.

It seems that Jung would refer to Wolff patients whom he either did not want to treat himself, or whom he believed might benefit from a period of time with a female analyst. This attention to the role of the feminine within the analysis raises the fundamental issue of gender difference in clinical work. However unwieldy Jung’s classifications of archetypal gendered attributes might be, it could be argued that he anticipated certain feminist concerns which questioned the orthodox psychoanalytic position, which in turn stressed that the actuality of the analyst’s gender was virtually irrelevant. Jungian psychology does not place the dynamic of the transference at the fulcrum of analytical exchange; rather, the personal aspects of the analyst are recognized as significant to the dynamic of the analysis. Jung encouraged the view that it is important to match the breadth of the psyche with a breadth of analytical experience, which only an experience of both sexes—archetypally—can provide. This was reflected in the support he offered to women colleagues within the analytical field. Consequently, it was Wolff’s attention to feminine consciousness, in the context of this broader view of the psyche, which ensured that certain leading women analysts would emerge to become instrumental in the establishment of archetypal psychology, beyond the constraints of the Freudian patriarchal libidinal model.⁵

Irene Champernowne

One of these remarkable women was Irene Champernowne. I shall present a short profile of her work here, since she offers a particular insight into Wolff’s therapeutic process. Champernowne was the founder and director of the Withymead Therapeutic Centre.⁶ After Wolff’s death she was concerned to acknowledge the special contribution of Wolff’s analytic skill to Jungian psychology. Champernowne revealed details of her therapeutic relationship with Wolff in a unique essay, entitled A Memoir to Toni Wolff (1980). This document includes the correspondence between the two women, comprising interpretations of several paintings and dreams which structured their analytical process. The memoir is particularly interesting as a means of gaining some awareness of Wolff’s analytical approach in the last years of her life.

Champernowne discusses her own experience of the atmosphere of free exchange which typified the interactive nature of the Zurich Psychological Club, and the flexibility of its analytical frame. In her Memoir Champernowne stresses that her essay contains revelations which, originally, were “never intended to be shared publicly”. She comments that a large part of the documentation was gathered privately, in the service of the analytical process. Even so, near the end of her life, twenty years later Champernowne considered this analytical relationship still so powerful that she was compelled to acknowledge openly what had taken place.

What we notice about this historic analysis is the intensity of the attachment of Champernowne and Wolff to archetypal principle, and the parity of their exchanges. Since Champernowne lived and worked in the heart of the English countryside it is interesting to see how Jungian thinking had become so firmly established in Britain by the 1940s. Even without living in Zurich, Champernowne had become profoundly psychologically informed. The Memoir demonstrates the international aspect of the Psychological Club, and how it functioned by offering analysis to dedicated Jungians at considerable distance—both in Britain and America. Through reading how Champernowne secured her analysis with Wolff we gain a full impression of this thriving Jungian community, and the crucial part that women played in establishing Jungian debate.

How was it that Champernowne came to work with Wolff at this late stage ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Permissions and Acknowledgements
• List of Illustrations
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Chapter One: Toni Wolff: a struggle for self-definition
• Chapter Two: Reflections on the humanizing of the mother archetype through the primal and analytic relationship
• Chapter Three: Jung, Kristeva, and the maternal realm
• Chapter Four: Individuation and necessity
• Chapter Five: Jung’s search for the masculine in women: the signification of the animus
• Chapter Six: “This thing of brightness”: the feminine power of transcendent imagination
• Chapter Seven: The alchemy of inversion: Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre and Mary Kelly’s “Menace”
• Chapter Eight: Women’s lack: the image of woman as divine
• Chapter Nine: The embodiment of desire: art, gender, and analysis
• Chapter Ten: This phenomenological écriture: feminine consciousness both corporeal and lucid