Puer Aeternus: A Psychological Study of the Adult Struggle With the Paradise of Childhood

MARIE-LOUISE von FRANZ is renown in the field of analytical psychology. A native of Munich, she has spent most of her life in Zurich where she worked directly with C.G. Jung for nearly thirty years. She was one of the founders of the Jung Institute in Kusnacht, Switzerland, and is currently an analyst there. A gifted and prolific writer, von Franz travels extensively, lecturing on her works and Jungian psychology. Anticipating the current interest in what is popularly called the "Peter Pan" syndrome, Puer Aeternaus ("eternal child") is von Franz's classic study of the youth within us, resistant to commitment in work or relationships and unable to completely abandon the dreams and fantasies of adolescence. Von Franz shows how this childish innocence can thwart our sel-actualization and doom us to adolescent delusions and provisional living. Through an analysis of Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince and Bruno Goetz's Kingdom Without Space, von Franz explores the negative potencial of the puer and its relation to the mother complex, Don Juanism, and homosexuality. Above all, she helps both men and women recognize this aspect and harness and focus its energy productively. "After reading Puer Aeternus and looking around at the men I know, friends and acquaintances, I couldn't help seeing reflections everywhere of what von Franz observed. Trapped in dreamy adolescence, afraid to leave the paradise of childhood: that seemed to describe a lot of them... [This book] is relevant to any effort at making sense of this problem."