Peer Gynt and Carl Gustav Jung with the Soul AS Companion
Pollan, Brita: Per Gynt og Carl Gustav Jung. Med sjelen som følgesvennPEER GYNT is amongst the most frequently performed Ibsen plays the world over. The play is based on a folk tale about Peer Gynt. It has qualities in common with other folk tales, and has lent itself to reinterpretation, regardless of era or setting or particular circumstances. This, despite the fact that the play is anchored in local Norwegian life and superstition, and that it describes what to Ibsen appeared to be a Norwegian national character type. But as Brita Pollan quite rightly points out, what may have seemed parochial to Ibsen, is something that speaks directly to people no matter what their cultural background. In addition, its local Norwegian quality has enhanced the play’s international appeal.
To aid her interpretation of PEER GYNT, Brita Pollen has made use of a parallel reading of the major theories of Carl Gustav Jung. Of specific importance are Jung’s theories of archetypes and culture, which Pollan believes are waymarks in the analysis of Henrik Ibsen’s PEER GYNT.
By using a Jungian perspective in a review of six Norwegian interpretations of PEER GYNT and five productions of the play, the author attempts to discover if the drama can be seen as an exposition of character archetypes. She places Ibsen and Jung’s view of mankind within a European philosophical tradition, in which the worth of the individual is paramount.
PEER GYNT AND CARL GUSTAV JUNG: WITH THE SOUL AS COMPANION will also be of interest to anyone searching for a sober and comprehensive introduction to the theory of archetypes.
This is a book that is both original and untraditional. The author manages convincingly to combine the concrete and the conceptual by viewing the drama of PEER GYNT in the light of pivotal Jungian theories. Readers are left not only with a fresh view of Ibsen and Jung, but also with new images of themselves.
Brita Pollan is a professional teacher and historian of religion. She has previously published two works of fiction, and the non-fiction titles SAAMI SHAMANS (Samiske sjamaner), RELIGION AND HEALING (Religion og helbredelse) and SAAMI TALES (Samiske beretninger).
Publisher: H. Aschehoug & Co (W. Nygaard) 1998
ISBN: 82-03-18056-6
332 pages, paperback
