Marie-Louise von Franz; Jungian Analyst, Expert on Fairy Tales

Marie-Louise von Franz, an acolyte of Swiss psychiatrist C.G. Jung and an expert on the psychological meaning of fairy tales, has died. She was 83.

Von Franz, who worked directly with the analytic psychologist Jung for 28 years, died Feb. 17 in her home in Kuesnacht, Switzerland, near Zurich. Her death was announced Tuesday by the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles.

After Jung’s death in 1961, Von Franz became the leading Jungian analyst and writer. Don’t become Jung, she advised, but rather follow his counsel to become the one unique individual each person is meant to be.

Born in Munich, Von Franz studied at the University of Zurich, where she earned a doctorate in classical languages. She first became a patient of Jung’s and then a protege, assisting him with research and by translating Greek and Latin texts for him. He permitted her to take on her first client for analysis when she was 41.

Von Franz’s counseling philosophy developed simply: “Work very hard on your own psychic life, and hope for a synchronistic happening in the client’s. In this way everything is kept open and alive and there are no set rules.”

Among her books were “Problems of the Feminine in Fairytales,” “An Introduction to the Interpretation of Fairytales” and “Shadow and Evil in Fairytales.” Others included a biography of Jung, “Jung, His Myth in Our Time,” and “Number and Time” about the connection between psychology and physics.

Von Franz also completed a book begun by Jung’s wife, Emma, titled “The Grail Legend,” a study of the various versions of King Arthur and the quest for the Holy Grail.