Love and the Soul: Psychological Interpretations of the Eros and Psyche Myth

by James Gollnick

The Eros and Psyche myth has, over the course of the twentieth century, received nearly as much attention from depth psychologists as has the Oedipus story. In their attempt to better understand this popular story, scholars have proposed various interpretations, which have generally followed eithether Freudian or Jungian theories about the nature of the psyche and its development.

This elaborate work provides serious students of psychology, religion and mythology with a detailed account and analysis of what has been accomplished in the spychological interpretation of the Eros and Psyche myth to date. It emphasizes how psychological theory determines the direction of interpretation much more than does the literary context of the myth itself. It also examines the strengths and weaknesses of these psychological interpretations (five Freudian and six Jungian) of the Eros and Psyche myth in order to lay the groundwork for an interpretation which (1) avoids the rigidity of both Freudian and Jungian dogma and (2) restores the myth to its rightful literary and religious context -- something which has been ignored by most psychological interpretations.

Genres: Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Mythology

182 pages, Paperback

First published May 20, 1992

Reviews

[Suhaib · Rating 5 out of 5]

"According to Johnson, Eros, as the experience of love, is the principle intermediary between humans and God. Being in love opens a person to the superpersonal world of the archetypes or the divine and is often experienced as an intrusion that upsets the person's familiar world."

Loved this book!

Probably the most comprehensive analysis\study of the Eros and Psyche Myth.

James Gollnick presents five Freudian analyses and six Jungian analyses of the myth; and he presents the interpretations in a dialectic fashion, going back and forth between interpretations and linking them together. Also, he reminds us of the importance of keeping close connection to the myth's original source in order to lock our interpretation firmly in the literary context, avoiding digressions of overly psychologizing the myth.

The Eros and Psyche story was first mentioned in Apuleius' The Golden Ass, other known as The Metamorphoses:

"Charite, just as she was preparing for her wedding, was kidnapped by bandits who then held her for ransom. She had just fallen asleep from weariness and depression in the bandits' cave when she dreamed the whole kidnap scene again, only in her dream her bridegroom follows the bandits and is killed by one of them. When Charite wakes from this nightmare she is hysterical, and in an effort to comfort her, an old woman who works for the bandits tells her the story of Eros and Psyche."

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An amazing book.

A new favorite of mine.