Details, Details....

Looks like one has to be extra, extra careful when researching and writing biographies these days. According to the New York Times, heirs of psychology icon Carl Jung are forestalling the German publication of Deirdre Bair’s book Jung, A Biography (published in the U.S. by Little, Brown & Co. 2003) stating that there are numerous inaccuracies; in fact they have provided a 12-page list of all the inaccuracies. Bair claims that the book stands correct based on scholarly documents she used in her research. The Random House subsidiary intent on releasing the book in Germany has decided to insert two pages of the Jung family’s version of facts in the translation—they say this is a “compromise” since they are subject to attack from either the family or the author if they do nothing. Whoa—I have to agree with Paul Aiken, Executive Director of the Author’s Guild in New York—the insert undermines the credibility of the author and is a bit like putting a “negative review on the cover of the book.” Perhaps they're not worrried about how the book sells in Germany....