Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion [Paperback]

James Hillman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1985

With 439 excerpts from the writings of C.G. Jung. "This excursion is intended to supplement the main literature on the anima. Since that literature provides a goodly phenomenology of the experience of anima, I shall look here more closely at the rather neglected phenomenology of the notion of anima. Experience and notion affect each other reciprocally. Not only do we derive our notions out of our experiences in accordance with the fantasy of empiricism, but also our notions condition the nature of our experiences." (James Hillman)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[Anima] is characteristic of [Hillman’s] writing in its scholastic approach, fidelity to the subject, precision and subtlety of mind." -- Harvest

About the Author

JAMES HILLMAN's pioneering imaginative psychology will soon span five decades. It has entered cultural history, affecting lives and minds in a wide range of fields. For the creativity of his thinking, the originator of Archetypal Psychology and author of A TERRIBLE LOVE OF WAR, THE SOUL'S CODE, THE FORCE OF CHARACTER, RE-VISIONING PSYCHOLOGY, and THE MYTH OF ANALYSIS, has received many honors, including the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. He has held distinguished lectureships at the Universities of Yale, Princeton, Chicago, and Syracuse, and his books have been translated into some twenty languages.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Spring Publications, Inc. (July 1, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882143166
• ISBN-13: 978-0882143163
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #813,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Provocative, April 10, 2006

By 

Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion (Paperback)

This is an odd book-focusing on Jung's anima archetype-very different from Emma Jung's. It uses stilted language, endnotes as the bibliography, & left-hand pages as footnotes to the right-hand pages-an odd but effective construction. It reminds me of a brain-storming session-very open & creative but with numerous ideas which need to be discarded upon review. Hillman extensively describes what anima is & is not (e.g. not all female figures are anima figures) & IMHO rightly describes differences between soul (anima) & spirit (animus) & between anima & feeling/Eros. However, he reaches the IMHO incorrect conclusion that both men & women have both anima & animus & confounds animus with ego, losing Jung's important contra-sexual breakthrough. While Jung used metaphysical/religious terms (soul/spirit) for psychic constructs/entities (anima/animus), he had a strong aversion to neologisms (creating new terms). I think his equating anima to soul & animus with spirit is ambiguous. Hillman's "adaptation" of Jung takes these equivalences too literally IMHO. Symbols are not to be taken literally. Further, Hillman seems to be stuck in Christian mythology despite his obvious parallels with Buddhism (e.g. view of ego, p. 137: discriminating knowledge, p. 143: subtle body, & p. 141: "It is then no longer clear when we are psychologically conscious & when unconscious"). In addition, while Hillman criticizes Jungians for putting too much onto the male anima, he similarly projects female archetypes (e.g. Kore) onto his own creation, "female anima." He seems to think that rocks are alive (p. 109) & be anti-science (Jung considered himself a scientist). Finally, Hillman seems to interpret Jung incorrectly-calling anima demonic on p. 135 whereas Jung (corresponding p. 134 quote) has "daemonic"-in Jung, this is a Big difference. While I find Hillman's provocative approach to be refreshing, he seems to have some spurious reasoning erected on questionable premises. But, per p. 137: "Before we can become conscious we must be able to know that we are unconscious."

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great anima consciousness -- but gender unconscious?, July 26, 2003

By 

Candice "anthropologist" (REDMOND, WA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion (Paperback)

The anima is a female archetype of the male psyche. Hillman delves into this difficult to understand Jungian concept in great detail -- for example, the relationship of the anima to the psyche and the soul, or whether the anima is a sexual archetype. The book is heavily footnoted, with the text on the right hand page and the footnotes on the left side. Most of the footnotes are quotes from Jung's Collected Works. Interspersed in the text are numerous line drawings which make for more pleasurable reading.

The only drawback is that Hillman didn't anticipate the reaction of women to his description of the anima. The book is about a female structure in the male psyche, but his description of that female archetype is largely stereotyped and may be rather annoying to any reader who is sensitive to gender issues. Perhaps he relies too greatly on Jung's perspective and doesn't bring himself into contemporary times. His attempts to reach into the women's psyche are unconvincing.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative, informative, interpretive, June 1, 2000

By 

Craig Chalquist, PhD, author of TERRAPSYCHOLO... (Bay Area, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion (Paperback)

Hillman at his poetic best. He plays with and amplifies the Jungian concept of the anima in ways delightful to read about; one needn't even agree with all of them to enjoy the ride.