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Inter Views
s/t: Conversations with Laura Pozzo on Psychotherapy, Biography, Love, Soul, Dreams, Work, Imagination and the State of the Culture
Inter Views is Hillman's most biographical and self-revealing book with extraordinary, yet practical accounts of active imagination, writing, daily work, and symptoms in their relation to love. The book is also a radical deconstruction of the interview form itself, even though one reads along as if in a coffee conversation with Hillman explaining his life and thought.
Inter Views is Hillman's most biographical and self-revealing book with extraordinary, yet practical accounts of active imagination, writing, daily work, and symptoms in their relation to love. The book is also a radical deconstruction of the interview form itself, even though one reads along as if in a coffee conversation with Hillman explaining his life and thought.
198 pages, Paperback
Published April 3, 1998
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About the author
James Hillman
179 books583 followersJames Hillman (1926-2011) was an American psychologist. He served in the US Navy Hospital Corps from 1944 to 1946, after which he attended the Sorbonne in Paris, studying English Literature, and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating with a degree in mental and moral science in 1950.
In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and founded a movement toward archetypal psychology, was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969.
In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978.
Retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27, 2011 from bone cancer.
In 1959, he received his PhD from the University of Zurich, as well as his analyst's diploma from the C.G. Jung Institute and founded a movement toward archetypal psychology, was then appointed as Director of Studies at the institute, a position he held until 1969.
In 1970, Hillman became editor of Spring Publications, a publishing company devoted to advancing Archetypal Psychology as well as publishing books on mythology, philosophy and art. His magnum opus, Re-visioning Psychology, was written in 1975 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Hillman then helped co-found the Dallas Institute for Humanities and Culture in 1978.
Retired into private practice, writing and traveling to lecture, until his death at his home in Connecticut on October 27, 2011 from bone cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 7, 2022
Super interesting collection of transcripted conversations between 2 psychologists, the American James Hillman (of German Jewish ethnic origin) and Italian Laura Pozzo.
Hillman was a student of C. G. Jung, who broke with his master the same way Jung did with Freud. His own system of Archetypical Psychology is similar to Jung's Analytical Psychology but is even more mystical and abandons Jung's aspirations towards universalism which he found to ignore important differences between different cultures' underlying metaphysical belief systems. Indeed Hillman makes it clear in ”Inter Views” that any good psychologist has to deviate from their teacher and create their own system in order to succeed. All of the conversations presume a familiarity with Hillman's system and frequently refer to other books of his. These are mostly the triptych of ”The Myth of Analysis”, ”Re-Visioning Psychology” and ”The Dream and the Underworld” but also ”The Puer Papers” which I have yet to read. Accordingly some of the themes in here went over my head, but that has just made me more curious about ”The Puer Papers”.
It becomes clear throughout ”Inter Views” that one of the biggest differences between Hillman and orthodox Jungians (e. g. Marie Louise von Franz) was Hillman's view of the ”puer aeternus” archetype – the eternal boy who never grows up emotionally, as embodied in our culture by for example J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Little Prince. According to traditional Jungian psychologists the puer aeternus is a negative presence, and popular identification with such characters a sign of the spiritual crisis afflicting the modern Western world. Hillman argues in here for a more nuanced view, namely the eternal youth forming a necessary dynamic with the ”senex” archetype of the wise old man. The reason being that Hillman not just found those 2 archetypes at work in himself, but also that he only made any significant progress in his life at all when a constructive cooperation between those 2 sides of himself was in play.
Other interesting topics discussed by Hillman and Pozzo in ”Inter Views” include: The differences between Germanic and Latinate cultures and their collective psychological landscapes; why D. H. Lawrence and Gustave Flaubert were the 2 literary authors who best understood the neuroses of modern Western man; the unexamined premises originating from Christian metaphysics still at work in the thought processes of many people who think they reject that framework, and why these engrams of undead Christian metaphysics can become harmful when not recognised as such. This book is just bursting with interesting observations and ideas in here, not all of which I understand or even agree with, but Hillman and Pozzo's conversations make me re-examine my existing beliefs in new contexts.
I can gather that ”Inter Views” is a rare book so I would recommend any long time fans of Hillman to pick it up as soon as they have the chance, but it is NOT a book for newcomers to Hillman. For that purpose I would recommend the trilogy mentioned above, or ”Re-Visioning Psychology” if you have to read just one.
Hillman was a student of C. G. Jung, who broke with his master the same way Jung did with Freud. His own system of Archetypical Psychology is similar to Jung's Analytical Psychology but is even more mystical and abandons Jung's aspirations towards universalism which he found to ignore important differences between different cultures' underlying metaphysical belief systems. Indeed Hillman makes it clear in ”Inter Views” that any good psychologist has to deviate from their teacher and create their own system in order to succeed. All of the conversations presume a familiarity with Hillman's system and frequently refer to other books of his. These are mostly the triptych of ”The Myth of Analysis”, ”Re-Visioning Psychology” and ”The Dream and the Underworld” but also ”The Puer Papers” which I have yet to read. Accordingly some of the themes in here went over my head, but that has just made me more curious about ”The Puer Papers”.
It becomes clear throughout ”Inter Views” that one of the biggest differences between Hillman and orthodox Jungians (e. g. Marie Louise von Franz) was Hillman's view of the ”puer aeternus” archetype – the eternal boy who never grows up emotionally, as embodied in our culture by for example J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Little Prince. According to traditional Jungian psychologists the puer aeternus is a negative presence, and popular identification with such characters a sign of the spiritual crisis afflicting the modern Western world. Hillman argues in here for a more nuanced view, namely the eternal youth forming a necessary dynamic with the ”senex” archetype of the wise old man. The reason being that Hillman not just found those 2 archetypes at work in himself, but also that he only made any significant progress in his life at all when a constructive cooperation between those 2 sides of himself was in play.
Other interesting topics discussed by Hillman and Pozzo in ”Inter Views” include: The differences between Germanic and Latinate cultures and their collective psychological landscapes; why D. H. Lawrence and Gustave Flaubert were the 2 literary authors who best understood the neuroses of modern Western man; the unexamined premises originating from Christian metaphysics still at work in the thought processes of many people who think they reject that framework, and why these engrams of undead Christian metaphysics can become harmful when not recognised as such. This book is just bursting with interesting observations and ideas in here, not all of which I understand or even agree with, but Hillman and Pozzo's conversations make me re-examine my existing beliefs in new contexts.
I can gather that ”Inter Views” is a rare book so I would recommend any long time fans of Hillman to pick it up as soon as they have the chance, but it is NOT a book for newcomers to Hillman. For that purpose I would recommend the trilogy mentioned above, or ”Re-Visioning Psychology” if you have to read just one.
May 22, 2021
Are we born with a special calling?
July 15, 2008
So interesting.
September 5, 2022
I had this book in my rucksack during a remote trek through the Alps. A fortunate choice that provided me and my companion with much insight and entertainment in the quiet hours after the daily hike. These conversations were recorded in 1983. Hillman was then in his late fifties. Almost three decades of work remained, but his main ideas on archetypal psychology had already been presented in landmark books (Re-Visioning Psychology in 1975 and The Dream and the Underworld in 1979). Laura Pozzo (who I have not been able to trace in any way beyond her role in this book) did a really good job of prompting Hillman over five days of in-depth conversations on a wide range of topics. The chapters are organised thematically and the table of contents is pretty much printed on the book's cover. I found the material on psychopathology, therapy, dreams and the imaginal - core Hillman territory - the most interesting. The lively reflections on his relationship with the Jungian school give insight into the man's mercurial and maverick temperament. The biographic tidbits and the chapters on this working and writing methods put his work and style further into relief. All in all this book offers a very good introduction to a fascinating personality and set of ideas. Definitely an incentive to pursue further reading in this area.
June 17, 2021
Suck it, Christianism.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews