Adler, Gerhard (ed.) - Letters of C. G. Jung_ Vol. 1, 1906-1950 (Routledge, 1973)

In M ay 1956— Ju n g was then nearly 82— I broached to him the

question o f the publication of his letters. Ju n g’s ready response made

it clear that this project had been on his mind for some time. Thus

m y inquiry cam e at a favourable m om ent, and Ju n g asked his secretary,

M rs. Aniela Jaffe, to select two file folders o f letters, all of

them to clergymen, labelled “ Pfarrerbriefe” in Ju n g’s own handwriting,

for m y opinion concerning the advisability of their publication.

O ver m any years Ju n g had frequently used the m edium o f letters

to com m unicate his ideas to the outside world and to rectify m isinterpretations

about which he felt sufficiently strongly, quite apart

from answering people who approached him with genuine problems

o f their own and corresponding with friends and professional colleagues.

In this way m any of his letters contained new creative ideas

and a running com m entary on his work.

In his later years it becam e his practice to send copies of letters

which he regarded as im portant to people whose judgm ent he trusted.

T h is he did partly to com m unicate ideas to them which, on account

o f his age, he no longer felt willing or able to put into book form,

and partly because the question of the publication of his letters had

been on his m ind for some time.

O riginally the idea o f such publication had come not from him self

but from friends who were aware of the unique literary and psychological

value o f Ju n g’s correspondence. A t first Ju n g had reacted

against the whole notion, since he felt that the spontaneity and

im m ediacy of his letters were not for the general public; but in his

later years he changed his attitude, and he even mentioned occasionally

in a particular letter that it was not only directed to the

addressee b ut was also m eant for later publication.