Carl Gustav Jung

In the novel The Pilgrim by Timothy Findley a doctor named Carl Jung takes on the case of the mysterious man named Pilgrim. This case becomes an obsession of Jung’s and he finds himself facing his own struggle for sanity. After doing research however, I found that Carl Gustav Jung was not a fictional character and was in fact a real doctor at the Burghölzli Psychiatric Clinic in Sweden. Carl Jung was born on July 26, 1875 in Kesswil, Thurgau, Switzerland and died June 6, 1961 at the age of 85 in Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist, an influential thinker and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is often considered the first modern psychologist to state that the human psyche is "by nature religious" and to explore it in depth. Though not the first to analyze dreams, he has become perhaps one of the most well known pioneers in the field of dream analysis.

I find it incredibly intriguing that Timothy Findley was able to mix such a great blend of Fiction and Reality in this Novel. From the very clinic Pilgrim was admitted in, to the very psychiatrist treating him Timothy Findley used accurate and historical facts. I also enjoy how while Carl Jung is reading Pilgrims’ journals that they are not entirely made up but instead contain real historic events that had  a tremendous effect on the world.