Perpetual adolescence : Jungian analyses of American media, literature, and pop culture / edited by Sally Porterfield, Keith Polette, and Tita French Baumlin.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Porterfield, Sally F.

Polette, Keith, 1954-

Baumlin, Tita French.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adolescent psychology--United States.

Adolescent psychology.

United States.

Adolescence--United States.

Adolescence.

Jung, C. G. (Carl Gustav), 1875-1961.

Jung, C. G.

Physical Description:

230 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Albany : SUNY Press, [2009]

Summary:

Arguing that American culture appeals to and is populated by children and adolescents who merely appear to be adult men and women, the essays in Perpetual Adolescence examine the Jungian archetype of the "eternal youth"-the puer aeternus-as it is manifested in the arrested development of American culture. From the infantilization of the American psyche and the lionization of teenaged celebrities and bodies, to fanatical conformity, and puerile entertainment, the contributors probe the various ways that American television, music, film, print, Internet, education, and social movements work to nourish and sustain this child archetype. Offering analytic psychology as an instrument of social analysis and critique, they point to the need for dialogue over the causes and effects of our puer-fixations, which have become, in large part, both a creation and a creator of the American zeitgeist.

Contents:

Introduction to the Puer/Puella Archetype / George H. Jensen 1

Culture on the Couch: Western Civilization's Journey from Crisis to Maturity / Anodea Judith 13

Puer and Hellmouth: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and American Myth / Susan Rowland 31

Puer in Nature: The Monster and the Grizzly Man / Rinda West 47

Grounding Icarus: Puer Aeternus and the Suicidal Urge / Dustin Eaton 71

The Puer as American Hero / Sally Porterfield 89

Shaken, Not Stirred: James Bond and the Puer Archetype / Luke Hockley 105

A Crown Must Be Earned Every Day: Seeking the Mature Masculine in High Art and Pop Culture / Darrell Dobson 123

"Protracted Adolescence": Reflections on Forces Informing the American Collective / John Gosling 137

Senex and Puer in the Classroom: A Conflict of Consciousness in Education / Keith Polette 155

Insanity by the Numbers, Knowings from the Ground: Outgrowing and Outloving the Cult of Quantification / Craig Chalquist 169

The Marriage of the Puer Aeternus and Trickster Archetypes: Psychological Rebirth for the Puer Personality / Chaz Gormley 187

Little Girl Lost: Sylvia Plath and the Puella Aeterna / Susan E. Schwartz 203

Provincials in Time: The Provisional Life / Marita Delaney 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438427997

1438427999

9781438428000

1438428006

OCLC:

291453872