ABSTRACT
Jungian criticism . . . is too often content with imposing a Jungian slant and terminology onto otherwise standard readings of the works it tackles. For example, one does not need to call upon Jung to offer ‘a feminist revision of the hero’s journey’ in Jane Eyre; almost all criticism of this novel written in the last half century has been engaged in just such a revision! . . . It must be seen to deliver fundamentally different readings to other approaches. If it can’t, or doesn’t, it loses its raison d’être. And consequently it loses any right to expect to regain its place within academic debate. In other words, Jungian criticism needs to produce readings that could not be generated by any other approach; readings that stand alone on their own intrinsic coherence and yet also promote an interest in their methodology; and perhaps above all, readings that surprise by their unexpected claims.
