Description
Book SynopsisIn this book, Steve Gronert Ellerhoff explores short stories by Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut, written between 1943 and 1968, with a post-Jungian approach. Drawing upon archetypal theories of myth from Joseph Campbell, James Hillman and their forbearer C. G. Jung, Ellerhoff demonstrates how short fiction follows archetypal patterns that can illuminate our understanding of the authors, their times, and their culture. In practice, a post-Jungian mythodology' is shown to yield great insights for the literary criticism of short fiction.
Chapters in this volume carefully contextualise and historicize each story, including Bradbury and Vonnegut's earliest and most imaginatively fantastic works. The archetypal constellations shaping Vonnegut's early works are shown to be war and fragmentation, while those in Bradbury's are family and the wholeness of the sun. Analysis is complemented by the explored significance of illustrations that featured alongside the stories in their fi
Trade Review
"Ellerhoff’s fascinating post-Jungian analysis of these stories not only situates these texts within the broader theoretical framework of archetypal psychology, but he also carefully contextualises them within the unique historical moment of post-war America."
- Miranda Corcoran, Journal of the Irish Association for American Studies
Table of Contents1. A Post-Jungian Mythodology for Reading Short Stories 2. War’s Shadow: Vonnegut’s Conflicts with Arms 3. Fragmented Independence: Vonnegut’s Critiques of the American Trinity 4. Dynamic Domesticities: Bradbury Splits the Nuclear Family 5. Hope for Wholeness: Bradbury’s Heliocentric Individuation 6. Epilogue: Golden Apples of the Monkey House
