Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Abstract: Based on Jung’s definition of archetype the concept ‘archetypal story pattern’ is
developed as well as a research method drawing on narrative analysis and biographical
research to identify these archetypal story patterns in life stories. Jung pointed out that
personal myths, archetypal patterns found, e.g., in mythology, can govern the life course
of individuals unconsciously. In the Theory of Narrative Identity comparable concepts
have been mentioned but were never fully developed. In my research I try to combine
Jung’s concept of the archetype with the elaborated methodology of narrative analysis.
Archetypes can manifest as narratives and the identity construction of a person via
narrating the life story can be influenced or even totally structured by archetypal stories
which give a specific form as well as a specific meaning to the person’s identity.
The method of extracting an underlying archetypal pattern from an autobiographical
narrative is demonstrated. The results of the research on 20 autobiographical interviews
and the inherent archetypal patterns are summarized. The major aim of this paper is to
describe in detail the application of a well established method of the social sciences on
a key concept of Jungian psychology to show that these concepts can be integrated into
recent research frameworks of academic sciences. On the other hand it shows that Jungian
concepts can be investigated through established and well defined research methods in
empirical research settings.
Key words: archetype, archetypal story pattern, biographical method, chronic disease,
life story, narrative analysis, theory of narrative identity
For a number of years now the narrative approach has had a major impact
on the humanities and the social sciences (Chamberlayne 2000) and has also
found its way into analytical psychology, as the following quote from an article
on narrative and interpretation by Covington in the Journal of Analytical
Psychology illustrates:
The narrative form gives meaning and coherence to our experience: we rely on it for
our day-to-day discourse to shape and indeed to construct our identities. Much of our
[This paper was originally given at a workshop at the Journal of Analytical Psychology’s 50th
Anniversary Conference, St Anne’s College, Oxford, April 2005.]
0021–8774/2006/5104/574
C 2006, The Society of Analytical Psychology
Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
Methodology for identifying archetypal story patterns 575
This quote summarizes perfectly what is called the Theory of Narrative Identity
(Gergen & Gergen 1987; Kerby 1991; Polkinghorne 1996). Identity is the
construct which provides the person with a sense of continuity of being over
time, which creates a sense of coherence so that the divergent experiences form
an interconnected whole, and which gives meaning to one’s experiences and to
life as a whole. All these aspects of identity: continuity, coherence and meaning,
are created by putting one’s experiences in life into a life story, a narrative. So
we can argue that identity necessarily has narrative form. This is also the reason
why in analysis we let our clients tell us their life stories, because through these
narratives we learn about the personality and the identity of the client.
Covington continues by saying: ‘Biography has to do with imposing patterns
in order to establish meaning’ (ibid., p. 406). This is certainly a very important
aspect of the narrative approach in the social sciences: the events we experience
in our lives do not have meaning in and of themselves, but they acquire meaning
in acts of interpretation by the experiencing mind (Josselson & Lieblich 1995).
Also experiences do not automatically become coherent, but coherence and
continuity are constructions of the individual (Linde 1993). This happens by
imposing patterns on the primary material of experience. Now the question of
biography research and in this case also the question of psychoanalysis is: which
pattern is imposed by a particular individual, which pattern governs his or her
life course, and where are these patterns taken from?
Jung himself pointed out that personal myths, which are archetypal patterns
found for example in mythology and fairy tales, could govern the life course
of individuals, in most cases unconsciously. A major aim of analysis is to bring
these unconscious myths to consciousness. The example of myths and fairy tales
shows clearly that archetypes can manifest in a sequential, discursive form, i.e.,
as narratives. Autobiographical narratives can be influenced or even totally
structured by such archetypal stories which give a specific shape as well as a
specific meaning to the identity of the person.
This idea can also be found in the literature on narrative and biography
analysis, even though the patterns are not called archetypal in these cases
(McAdams 1993). Most interestingly this viewpoint is expressed in narratology
without any reference to Jung and the concept of archetypes. But many authors
point out clearly that individuals narrating their life story often use typified
story patterns that resemble the well-known narratives of their culture. The
psychologist Jerome Bruner (1995) for example points out that many storytellers
use the classical forms of comedy and tragedy or the hero story pattern for
shaping their personal stories. Lieblich (1998) shows that from the 1960s on
576 Christian Roesler
storytellers more and more make use of a pattern she calls the self-realization
narrative for shaping their biographies, a narrative pattern which has developed
through the influence mainly of psychological and psychotherapeutic theories
on the cultural mainstream.
1 The project was part of a greater interdisciplinary research context (Sonderforschungsbereich 541)
these persons were at least for some time in their lives in a state of personal
crisis and were therefore more open to archetypal structures which would then
show in their life stories. The interviewees were asked to tell their life story
from the beginning. The story was taped and transcribed from the tapes for
detailed analysis (for the technique of research interviews in narrative research
see Mishler 1986).
Unfortunately the transcript cannot show how strongly his speech is distorted
by his spasticity and how he still tries very hard to speak clearly and exactly.
578 Christian Roesler
In the orientation part of the narrative, where the place and the acting
figures of the happenings are introduced, the story-teller uses the expressions
‘university clinic’ and ‘professor’, which makes clear that the story takes place
in surroundings of a high intellectual level. The story constructs a narrative
opposition of characters: on one side there is the patient, lying helplessly in his
bed, the object of medical interest; on the other side there is the professor with
his whole staff, an overpowering majority of professionals, and the professor
as the main antagonist through his rank possesses something like the official
proof of a high intelligence. So the narrative opposition is characterized by a
strong difference in power. The superiority of the professor is further manifested
in his way of communicating to the patient: by saying ‘How are we today’. He
includes the powerless one kindly into his superior position and by doing this he
stresses his superiority at the same time. This is followed by a narrative turning
point in which the protagonist Herr Bittner topples the superior position of the
professor with a discursive trick. He takes him at his word and, pretending to be
just polite, he differentiates between himself and the professor, whose well-being
he cannot judge. He shows himself as verbally more precise than his opponent.
The story continues with the visit of the assistant doctor. What she says serves as
proof of the fact that the professor did not understand the trick that was played
on him. But the staff did, so they wanted to laugh but could not. The result is
a victory of the seemingly powerless and inferior cripple over the professor, in
the field of speech and intelligence, where one would suppose the professor was
absolutely superior.
This narrative sequence can be reduced to its core structure: in the beginning
there is a strong difference in power between an inferior one and a superior, who
are opposing each other. This superiority is surprisingly turned upside down by
the inferior one through an act of cleverness, by which he gains a victory over
the other. This victory is confirmed by the observing audience.
Searching for a prototypical story in the cultural canon we find the story of
David and Goliath in the Old Testament, which is formed by the same structure.
In this ancient story a giant and a small boy are opposing each other, and the
superiority of the giant is overwhelming. But the boy hits the giant with a stone
from his sling, a move of cleverness, and unexpectedly wins the fight and defeats
the giant. In this story both actors fight not just for themselves but also for their
peoples, the Israelites and the Philistines.
Now what does the storyteller gain for his narrative by using this archetypal
story pattern? As it was said before, there are always several possibilities to tell
the same story, that is, to put a sequence of happenings into narrative form.
The choice of this archetypal story pattern gives a certain meaning to the story.
Several aspects can be pointed out:
1. By using the David-and-Goliath-pattern the story becomes an especially
strong proof of the teller’s intelligence, because it shows that he defeated
even an intellectual giant, and that he did so by using his cleverness. The
Methodology for identifying archetypal story patterns 579
- The central topic of the life story is the fight against a negative opponent or
enemy. The opponent can be the impairment or illness, or the discriminating
society (as in the case of Herr Bittner) or other things. In all cases the opponent
has a negative characterization.
- In his fight against the negative opponent the storyteller is alone, exposed to
his fate in the world. On the other hand, during the story there are always
helpful figures appearing, who often become important for the life of the
storyteller.
- The protagonist, the hero, carries a message or has to perform a deed which
is of importance for the collective. So in the end he fights not for himself
alone but for the whole of society or for his group or his people (like Herr
Bittner who fights for equal rights for all disabled people).
- This deed or message, which the hero carries out, is a good thing, opposed
to the bad thing which the opponent stands for.
- The narrative identity of the storytellers is presented as gained through their
own effort, a product of personal strength and endurance. So the hindrances
and the crises, which the protagonist has to fight with, become meaningful
in the life story, helping to bring out the best in the person and forming the
life and personality of the hero.
- To gain autonomy in the course of life is the most important thing for these
storytellers.
580 Christian Roesler
So the course of the story starts from a situation of being opposed by a negative
opponent, who in the beginning seems to be overwhelming. Nevertheless the
hero takes up his deed of fighting this negative opponent, in the beginning all
alone, but in the course of time there is support from helpful figures, and in the
end the hero succeeds in overcoming the negative element. In some cases this
story of succeeding over the enemy is told even against the apparent facts: for
example, one storyteller presents herself as being happy to have found a way
to heal her Multiple Sclerosis when the fact is that medically there is no chance
to heal it and in the interview it is apparent that her life is severely impaired
by her illness: she has to use a wheelchair, she cannot work in her profession
any more, she lives on public support, her sight is in danger. Now in this case
one could argue that there is too strong a difference between the reality of the
person’s life and the way she imagines it, and of course it would be a necessary
part of psychotherapy with this person to investigate such a gap. Nevertheless,
in this case the narrative self-presentation was not really delusional. The person
made use of a mythical pattern to give meaning to her life in the face of all
difficulties. This is of course different from the use we would make of such a
myth in analytical psychotherapy where the aim is to move towards a greater
wholeness that would also include the wounded parts of the personality. As
Jung already noted, archetypal forces are not always in the service of achieving
wholeness, they can also move the person to extreme identifications. I present
this example here to show the enormous power of archetypal story patterns to
give shape and meaning to a life story. The evaluation of a life in a life story
depends much more on the chosen story pattern than on the brute facts.
The narrative pattern of structural elements which here was called the hero
story has been described many times before, among others by Jung (1912/1954)
in Symbols of Transformation. The narratologist Theodore Sarbin (1986) has
identified this story pattern in many modern literature and film productions
and calls it the American Monomyth. Apparently the myth of the hero as a
narrative organizer is still of great importance for our culture and is used by
many individuals for constructing their identity and for giving meaning to their
lives.
Another case is now presented in which the storyteller gives his life a meaning
taken from an archetypal story. The storyteller, called Herr Koller, has been
suffering from diabetes since 1960. After being medically under control for
about 20 years the diabetes became really problematic after severe states of
hyper- and hypoglycaemia. The problem was that at that time there was no
instrument with which he could test his blood sugar level himself. But in 1985,
while in hospital, Herr Koller was given a new technical device with which
he could, from then on, measure his blood sugar at any time and could inject
himself with insulin accordingly. This change is strongly marked in his narrative
as a biographical turning point by a change in rhythm, speed and atmosphere.
In his own interpretation the turning point assumes a meaning that exceeds the
medical facts by far: the technical control of the disease assumes the meaning of
Methodology for identifying archetypal story patterns 581
totally overcoming the disease itself and in this way he becomes unharmed and
complete again. In his narrative, the storyteller appears to be fascinated by the
progress of medicine and its future technical developments. He describes a device
in the planning stage that he calls ‘the Ulm watch’ (the city of Ulm in Germany
is where this device is being developed) which looks like a watch and combines
the automatic measuring of the blood sugar level with an according automatic
insulin injection. According to Herr Koller this device is still in development
but, when finished, it would serve as a complete substitute for the sick organ.
The part of the body which does not work any more would be replaced by an
artificial man-made organ and complete health would be restored. So in his life
technology will have won over the disease and he will be completely restored
and be able to live without any restriction.
This story pattern is taken from the great myth of the unstoppable progress
of human science and technology. It is the vision that by developing their
knowledge and skills further and further mankind will in the future overcome all
the diseases and restrictions that are set up by a mortal body and become master
of life and death. This phantasy is apparently widespread since the beginning
of enlightenment and industrialization, but it is actually much older and can
therefore be called archetypal. We find it for example in the antique myths of
Daedalus and Icarus and of Pygmalion and also in the kabbalistic story of the
Golem. In modern times this archetypal phantasy appears in the form of science
fiction. The aspect of this myth which is most prominent in Herr Koller’s story
is the replacement of a part of the living body by a technical organ, which
results in a being called a Cyborg in science fiction, a hybrid being partly
technical and partly biological. From an archetypal aspect it is important to
note here that in the modern versions of the myth an important part is missing:
in the ancient myths the masters are punished by the gods for stepping over
the threshold between the sphere of humans and that of gods. So in a sense
the ancient versions are more holistic in that they show the limits of human
power. In the modern versions this boundary is lost and this is especially what
characterizes the phantasies of technological mastery since the enlightenment:
the phantasy of a boundless progress of the human spirit. This is the aspect
which is so fascinating for Herr Koller.
It is very easy to understand that this archetypal phantasy is extremely
attractive for a person with a chronic disease. Applying this story pattern to
his own life narrative makes Herr Koller a part of a movement of all mankind
towards the solution of all problems caused by the body. His life, once restricted
by disease, now becomes part of the triumph of human skills over unruly nature.
Out of the total of 20 interviews of the research project a typology of
archetypal story patterns was extracted which shape the life stories and the
identities of the storytellers in the sense of personal myths. These include—
besides the hero story pattern and the vision of technical mastery—the
archetypal stories of religious conversion, miraculous healing, the victim, the
tragic life, discrimination/persecution, and the modern ‘myth’ of self-realization
582 Christian Roesler
Clinical implications
Now what is the clinical value of the insight that individuals use archetypal
story patterns for their identity construction and for giving meaning to their
lives?
This research can serve as evidence for Jung’s theses that archetypal patterns
that have accompanied mankind for thousands of years still govern the lives
of individuals today in the form of personal myths, and that most often
this happens unconsciously. This research demonstrates that it is possible to
investigate Jung’s theory with modern and established scientific methods and
that one can find empirical evidence for the concept of archetypes. Analytical
psychology has stayed apart from academic research and from a scientific
investigation of its concepts for too long. This is often connected with an
unspoken devaluation of academic methods which has lead to a kind of isolation
of analytical psychology in the field of humanities and social sciences. In my
opinion this self-imposed isolation is no longer justified. Today there are research
strategies and methods that allow us to examine our concepts and theories
while doing justice to the character of analytical psychology. I would claim that
narrative analysis is one of them.
As Jung always pointed out, the major problem of modern culture is the
loss of meaning, and he claimed that the common problem of those that came
to him for help was an overall feeling of meaninglessness and emptiness. A
major conclusion of this investigation is that the use of archetypal patterns for
organizing their life stories gives a strong sense of meaning to the lives of the
interviewees. It helps them to see their lives as directed by a meaningful motif
which they share with many others and which they find among the timeless
narratives of their culture. It serves as a frame which creates coherence in all
the divergent experiences in their lives. It can even serve to include the negative
experiences of loss, impairment, suffering, decline and so on and make these
part of their story. This becomes important when seen from the perspective of
Antonovsky’s (1987) concept of ‘salutogenesis’, the promotion of health and
well-being. Antonovsky shows that a major aspect of health is the ability of
the person to create a sense of coherence, especially concerning the painful and
damaging aspects of his or her life. The term coherence has some parallels with
Jung’s idea of wholeness, though wholeness in Jung is much more complex,
even paradoxical. I prefer to refer to the term coherence here because it is more
limited and it also parallels the narratological term of narrative coherence. The
point here is to demonstrate the power that archetypal story patterns especially
carry with them to create this coherence, in the narrative as well as in the identity
of the storytellers.
Methodology for identifying archetypal story patterns 583
TRANSLATIONS OF ABSTRACT
Basierend auf Jungs Begriff des Archetyps wird das Konzept “archetypisches Geschicht-
enmuster” entwickelt und eine narrationsanalytische Forschungsmethode vorgestellt, mit
der solche archetypischen Geschichtenmuster in Lebensgeschichten bestimmt werden
können. Jung hat aufgezeigt, daß archetypische Muster, wie wir sie in der Mythologie
finden, in der Form persönlicher Mythen die Lebensgestaltung von Menschen bestimmen
können. In der sog. Theorie der Narrativen Identität werden ähnliche Konzepte erwähnt,
wurden aber bislang nicht weiterentwickelt. In dem Artikel wird eine wissenschaftliche
Untersuchung vorgestellt, in der versucht wurde, Jungs Archetypenkonzept mit der
ausdifferenzierten Methodologie der Narrationsanalyse zu verknüpfen. Es wurde dabei
davon ausgegangen, daß sich Archetypen auch in narrrativer Form manifestieren können
und die Identität einer Person, wie sie sich in der erzählten Lebensgeschichte zeigt, prägen
können, indem sie der Lebensgeschichte eine spezifische Gestalt und Bedeutung geben.
Die Methodik, wie aus einer autobiographischen Erzählung ein zugrun-
deliegendes archetypisches Geschichtenmuster freigelegt wird, wird an einem
Fallbeispiel vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung mit 20 autobiographis-
chen Erzählinterviews und die Typologie der aufgefundenen archetypischen
Geschichtenmuster werden zusammengefaßt. Ziel des Artikels ist vor allem
darzustellen, daß eine in den Sozialwissenschaften etablierte Forschungsmeth-
ode sich fruchtbar auf eine Schlüsselkonzept der Jungschen Psychologie anwen-
den läßt und diese sich somit mit aktuellen Forschungsstrategien verknüpfen
läßt. Jungsche Konzepte lassen sich auf diese Weise mit etablierten und
ausdifferenzierten Forschungsmethoden empirisch untersuchen.
Una metodologia della narrazione per identificare i modelli storici archetipici nei racconti
autobiografici. Basato sulla definizione di Jung di archetipo il concetto di ‘ modello
storico archetipico’ viene sviluppato come un metodo che attinge all’analisi narrativa
e alla ricerca biografica per identificare tali modelli storici archetipici nelle storie di
vita. Jung mese in evidenza il fatto che i miti personali, i modelli archetipici individuati
Methodology for identifying archetypal story patterns 585
ad esempio nella mitologia possono influenzare inconsciamente il corso della vita degli
individui.. Nella Teoria dell’Identità Narrativa cocetti simili sono stati già menzionati,
ma mai pienamente sviluppati. Nella mia ricerca cerco di mettere insieme il concetto
junghiano di archetipo con l’elaborata metodologia dell’analisi della narrazione. Gli
archetipi possono manifestarsi come narrazione e la costruzione dell’identità di una
persona attraverso la narrazione della storia della vita può essere influenzata o persino
totalmente strutturata da storie archetipiche che danno una forma specifica, come anche
uun significato specifico all’identità della persona.
Viene poi dimostrato il metodo attraverso il quale si estrae da una narrazione
autobiografica un sottostante modello archetipico. Vengono sintetizzati i risul-
tati di una ricerca su 20 interviste autobiografiche e i modelli archetipici ad
esse sottostanti. Lo scopo principale di questo lavoro è quello di descrivere
dettagliatamente l’applicazione di un metodo ben affermato delle scienze sociali
su un concetto chiave della psicologia junghiana per mostrare come tali
concetti possono essere integrati negli schemi di recenti ricerche delle scienze
accademiche. Da un altro lato esso mostra che i concetti junghiani possono
essere investigati attraverso affermati e ben definiti metodi nel setting delle
ricerche empiriche.
References
Antonovsky, A. (1987). Unravelling the Mystery of Health. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Bruner, J. (1995). ‘The narrative construction of reality’. Critical Inquiry, 18, 1–21.
Chamberlayne, P. (ed.) (2000). The Turn To Biographical Methods In Social Science:
Comparative Issues And Examples. London: Sage.
Covington, C. (1995). ‘No story, no analysis? The role of narrative in interpretation’.
Journal of Analytical Psychology, 40, 405–17.
Gergen, M. M. (1996). ‘The social construction of personal histories’. In Constructing
the Social, eds. T. Sarbin & J. Kitsuse. London: Sage.
Gergen, K. J. & Gergen, M. M. (1987). ‘The self in temporal perspective’. In Life-span
Perspectives and Social Psychology, ed. R.P. Abeles. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Josselson, R. & Lieblich, A. (eds.) (1995). Interpreting Experience. The Narrative Study
of Lives, Vol. 3. London: Sage.
Jung, C. G. (1912/1954). Symbols of Transformation. CW 5.
Kerby, A. P. (1991). Narrative and the Self . Bloomington, Indianapolis: Indiana
University Press.
Lieblich, A., Tuval-Mashiach, R., Zilber, T. (1998). Narrative Research. Reading,
Analysis and Interpretation. London: Sage.
Linde, C. (1993). Life Stories. The Creation of Coherence. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
McAdams, D. P. (1993). Personal Myths and the Making of the Self . New York: Morrow.
Mishler, E. G. (1986). Research Interviewing. Context and Narrative. Cambridge, Mass:
Harvard University Press.
Polkinghorne, D. E. (1996). ‘Explorations of narrative identity’. Psychological Inquiry,
7, 363–67.
Riessman, C. K. (1993). Narrative Analysis. Newbury Park: Sage.
Sarbin, T. (ed.) (1986). Narrative Psychology. New York: Praeger.
—— (1997). ‘The poetics of identity’. Theory & Psychology, 7, 67–82.