E-Book Overview
This is the first book-length study of Modernist utopias of the mind. Pietikainen examines the psychodynamic writings of Otto Gross, C G Jung, Wilhelm Reich and Erich Fromm. After they broke from Freud and orthodox psychoanalysis, Pietikainen argues, utopianism became increasingly important to the fundamental ambitions of all four thinkers. He shows how Gross' "Matriarchal Communism", Jung's "Archetypal Cosmos", Reich's "Orgonomic Functionalism" and Fromm's "Socialist Humanism" were attempts to reshape social structures and human relations by conquering the Unconscious. Pietikainen places the 'utopian impulse' with the historical context of the large, violent socio-political narratives of the early twentieth century. This innovative interdisciplinary book contributes to ongoing scholarly and professional discussions about the historicity versus the universality of human nature.
E-Book Content
ALCHEMISTS OF HUMAN NATURE: PSYCHOLOGICAL UTOPIANISM IN GROSS, JUNG, REICH AND FROMM
ALCHEMISTS OF HUMAN NATURE: PSYCHOLOGICAL UTOPIANISM IN GROSS, JUNG, REICH AND FROMM
by Petteri Pietikainen
london PICKERING & CHATTO 2007
Published by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited 21 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH 2252 Ridge Road, Brookfield, Vermont 05036-9704, USA www.pickeringchatto.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher. © Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Ltd 2007 © Petteri Pietikainen 2007 british library cataloguing in publication Pietikainen, Petteri Alchemists of human nature: psychological utopianism in Gross, Jung, Reich and Fromm 1. Gross, Otto, 1877–1920 2. Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav), 1875–1961 3. Reich, Wilhelm, 1897–1957 4. Fromm, Eric