Healing Fiction [Paperback]

James Hillman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1998

This book is Hillman’s main analysis of analysis. He asks the basic question, "What does the soul want?" With insight and humor he answers, "It wants fictions that heal."

Editorial Reviews

Review

³Freud, Jung, and Adler‹post-Jungian Hillman stresses the metaphorical and mythic core of each man¹s work. All three . . . were often aware of the Œfictional¹ nature of their theory and practice. Yet, argues Hillman, it is only when a fiction is taken literally that it becomes a lie‹hence the double meaning of the title. Our symptoms and fixations are symbolic constructs; when our visions harden into dogmatic Œrealties¹ we become sick.²
-‹Library Journal


³Freud, Jung, and Adler‹post-Jungian Hillman stresses the metaphorical and mythic core of each man¹s work. All three . . . were often aware of the Œfictional¹ nature of their theory and practice. Yet, argues Hillman, it is only when a fiction is taken literally that it becomes a lie‹hence the double meaning of the title. Our symptoms and fixations are symbolic constructs; when our visions harden into dogmatic Œrealties¹ we become sick.²
-‹Library Journal

About the Author

The pioneering imaginative psychology of James Hillman that soon will span five decades 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; and The Force of Character has received many honors, including the Medal of the Presidency of the Italian Republic. He has held distinguished lectureships at Yale, Princeton, Chicago, and Syracuse Universities, and his books have been translated into some twenty languages. The American public showed its appreciation of his approach to psychology by placing his book, The Soul's Code, at the top of the bestseller list of serious works of nonfiction. Of his many books, Spring

Publications has published Anima, Loose Ends, Archetypal Psychology:

A Brief Account, Pan and the Nightmare, Suicide and the Soul,

Insearch, Oedipus Variations (with Karl Kerényi), The Thought of the

Heart and the Soul of the World, Inter Views, and Lectures on Jung's

Typology (with Marie-Louise von Franz). He lives in Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Spring Publications (May 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0882143638
• ISBN-13: 978-0882143637
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

146 of 146 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterwork., September 15, 2000

By 

Mark Hammond (Chambersburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Healing Fiction (Paperback)

This is the first work by Hillman I read, and that was for a course at the New School for Social Research. Although I have a masters degree in psychology, my background was in cognitive and social psychology. This was part of my introduction into psychopathology and Jungian psychology. I liked it so much that I have read it about 25 times. In reading this book, it is probably good to begin with the third chapter (What Does the Soul Want?), then read chapters one and two. You will find that order of reading the book helps. The emphasis is on the soul (not in a religious sense, but the soul as "psyche") and the needs of the "inner voice." From that point, the use of the case study is developed as a "healing fiction." In the development of that healing fiction, certain symbols, images, and signs are used. Each person, or soul, develops his or her own healing fiction as it strives to reach a balance.

In addition to being a premier Jungian psychologist, James Hillman is a neo-Platonist philosopher. The symbolic influence of ancient gods and goddesses, as well as the demands of the "daimon" on a person are introduced. You may notice that this fits well with some of the writings of Joseph Campbell, who was also strongly influenced by Jung. Hillman demonstrates a wide background in the classics, literature, and philosophy. This is a thinking person's book, especially recommended to students of psychology and to mental health professionals.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific book, December 22, 2001

By 

Marc Brenman (Kensington, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Healing Fiction (Paperback)

I highly recommend it. But difficult, like all James Hillman's books. His viewpoint is like no one else's. Informed by Jung, but not subservient to him.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hillman is the best, December 21, 2010

By 

Kevin L. Williams "Kevin" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Healing Fiction (Paperback)

This book is up there with Murray Stein's "In Midlife" in my estimation. There is probably more depth here. Its not about simply writing or re-writing your own story, though it is about that. It's about understanding what your story has been about up to now AND that it has been in large part a fiction. This is a defense mechanism that was needed in childhood but now evidently it has passed its usefulness and now one has to grow up and accept responsibility. That's the hard part. Also read his "puer papers" if you have midlife issues. The way of milk and blood are manna for us lost souls. Also see these books that focuses on dream images: Midlife Themes: A Self Study and The Way of the Image: The Orientational Approach to the Psyche