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Marie-Louise von Franz: Archetypal Symbols in Fairytales: The Profane and Magical Worlds. Vol. 1

Foreword
During her lifetime Marie-Louise von Franz expressed the wish that her books
and essays might one day appear in the form of a Collected Works.

As the main heir to her literary legacy, it became the task of the Foundation for Jungian Psychology, Ki.isnacht, to fulfil her wish.

As a first step, the Board of the Foundation decided to publish all of her books in German in a revised, and in  some cases expanded, format by the Foundation’s own publishing house. For her lectures or talks, the Foundation drew upon manuscripts, tape recordings or notes, as far as these were available.

Marie-Louise von Franz left behind a handwritten list of all her publications that she herself had both compiled and commented upon. In it, she indicated which editions in her view best reflected her work.

Some were first editions in English or French. In these instances, the revised German editions were adapted to reflect the foreign language publications.

The texts she wrote in German were largely adopted as they were.

Occasionally, slight alterations have been made to facilitate both the reading of the text and its understanding.

In some places, footnotes have been added to refer to more recent research results, or further explanations have been added in endnotes. In line with the German editions, the Foreword of each volume of the Collected Works in English includes a description of the respective circumstances surrounding its creation and translation.

The Foundation is very grateful to Alison Kappes-Bates, Hirzel, for her adaptation of the existing older English editions to the new, revised German editions.

Alison Kappes-Bates, whose mother-tongue is English, was a close companion to Marie-Louise von Franz for almost 20 years, including taking care of her in her final years.

Where necessary, Alison Kappes-Bates has provided new, and sometimes first, translations of parts of the German texts.
Both her experience in her field of expertise and her closeness to the author ensured a quality of work that reflects the German editions.

After several years of negotiation, the Foundation succeeded in signing a framework contract for the Collected Works with Chiron Publications in Asheville, North Carolina/USA.

It is planned for the Collected Works to be published in its entirety within the next ten years.

The Foundation would like to thank Len Cruz (CEO), Steve Buser (COO) and Jennifer Fitzgerald (Editor), along with all the Chiron Publications employees who have contributed to the creation of the Collected Works.

The Foundation is also grateful to the graphic designer, Martina Ott, Zurich, for her creative ideas and suggestions concerning layout and cover design.

The combined efforts of all those mentioned above have made it possible to realise Marie-Louise von Franz’s dream and to
publish her enduring works, also for an avid English readership, in a revised and attractive form.

The origin of Archetypal Symbols in Fairy Tales has its own special history.

A German philologist by the name of Hedwig von Beit, who had a particular interest in fairy tales but was unable to interpret them, asked C. G. Jung ifhe might help her to interpret fairy tales in his sense.

Jung referred von Beit to the young Marie-Louise von Franz, who took on the task with great enthusiasm.

Over a period of eight years, she worked intensively on interpreting over 900 fairy tales submitted by Hedwig von Beit.

After taking on the final editing and publication of the three-volume work, and tq the great disappointment of Marie-Louise von Franz, Hedwig von Beit published the work solely under her own name.

The publication was received enthusiastically in scientific circles.

On Jung’s advice, Marie-Louise von Franz waived taking any legal action in war-torn Germany during the period of its reconstruction.

Thanks to the long-standing efforts ofEmmanuel Kennedy, Gommiswald, the successor of Francke Verlag, Tiibingen, eventually transferred all publishing rights of the work to the Foundation for Jungian Psychology, Kiisnacht.

At last, the three volumes could be republished under the name of their rightful legal author by the Foundation’s own publishing house.

Emmanuel Kennedy was responsible for the new German publication of Symbolik des Miirchens (Archetypal Symbols in Fairy Tales).

In the Foreword, he explains in detail the origins of the work.

The English translation of the present volume was provided by Roy Freeman, Lucerne with the assistance of Anthony Woolfson, Zurich.

The Foundation is very grateful to Messrs. Kennedy, Freeman and Woolfson for their efforts.

On behalf of the Foundation for Jungian Psychology, Kiisnacht, August 20, 2020
PD Dr. Hansueli F. Etter, President, Marie-Louise von Franz: Archetypal Symbols in Fairytales, Page vli – vlii