What do you think?
Rate this book
Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion
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)
200 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1985
34 people are currently reading
330 people want to read
About the author
James Hillman
175 books573 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 31, 2021
The anima may be the most complex and misunderstood archetype in Jung’s psychological model. As Jung said, where “the shadow is the ‘apprentice-piece in the individual’s development…the anima is the ‘master-piece.’” This is made more challenging because Jung’s writings on the anima are scattered, contradictory, and evolved dramatically over his career.
In “Anima: an Anatomy of a Personified Notion,” James Hillman offers an exhaustive critical analysis and summation of every passage Jung wrote on the anima. Hillman was one of the most important post-Jungian scholars, and his core concerns of soul-making, the polytheistic psyche, and the primacy of imaginal expression have become foundational to contemporary depth psychology and Jungian studies.
The understanding of the anima Hillman presents has become the current definition of this archetype in professional Jungian circles—despite that it looks very little like the popular conception of the anima as the image of the contrasexual, eroticized, feeling-driven, archetypal female in men. Hillman takes each of these notions and refutes and expands it, arriving at a clearer and more powerful notion of anima’s role: as the archetype of the psyche itself—the soul—which connects us to all the depths of the collective and archetypal unconscious.
For instance, Hillman describes how our broadest misunderstanding of the anima—as an expression of a man’s “inferior feminine” qualities—is a reflection of the “rigidly patriarchal, puritanically defensive, extravertedly willful and unsoulful period of history” in which Jung wrote. As cultural understandings of gender roles have changed, we can see that the anima’s gendered expression is not literalized biologically but serves the greater function of representing a personality distinct from the individual ego. According to Hillman, men and women alike have both an anima and animus, just as we each have an unconscious and ego, which work as an opposing but inseparable pair.
Likewise, the anima is not the representation of an idealized woman or object of erotic desire. As Hillman says, “all that is female is not necessarily anima and…all that is anima is not necessarily Venusian.” The anima does involve itself with relational attachments and extremes of feeling-states, but in the service of animating our inner sense of reality rather than as projections onto other people. And where it dresses itself in seductive or charming guise, it is to lead us deeper into the mystery of our inner world.
Drawing on Jung’s most obscure passages, Hillman concludes that the anima is ultimately the bridge to the unconscious. The anima animates the natural world, personifies psychic contents, mythologizes our lived experiences, provides our individualized sense of self and soul, connects us to the collective consciousness or world soul, and does these through stirring the imagination and projecting fantasy-images that give the true depth, meaning, and sense of destiny to our lives.
In “Anima: an Anatomy of a Personified Notion,” James Hillman offers an exhaustive critical analysis and summation of every passage Jung wrote on the anima. Hillman was one of the most important post-Jungian scholars, and his core concerns of soul-making, the polytheistic psyche, and the primacy of imaginal expression have become foundational to contemporary depth psychology and Jungian studies.
The understanding of the anima Hillman presents has become the current definition of this archetype in professional Jungian circles—despite that it looks very little like the popular conception of the anima as the image of the contrasexual, eroticized, feeling-driven, archetypal female in men. Hillman takes each of these notions and refutes and expands it, arriving at a clearer and more powerful notion of anima’s role: as the archetype of the psyche itself—the soul—which connects us to all the depths of the collective and archetypal unconscious.
For instance, Hillman describes how our broadest misunderstanding of the anima—as an expression of a man’s “inferior feminine” qualities—is a reflection of the “rigidly patriarchal, puritanically defensive, extravertedly willful and unsoulful period of history” in which Jung wrote. As cultural understandings of gender roles have changed, we can see that the anima’s gendered expression is not literalized biologically but serves the greater function of representing a personality distinct from the individual ego. According to Hillman, men and women alike have both an anima and animus, just as we each have an unconscious and ego, which work as an opposing but inseparable pair.
Likewise, the anima is not the representation of an idealized woman or object of erotic desire. As Hillman says, “all that is female is not necessarily anima and…all that is anima is not necessarily Venusian.” The anima does involve itself with relational attachments and extremes of feeling-states, but in the service of animating our inner sense of reality rather than as projections onto other people. And where it dresses itself in seductive or charming guise, it is to lead us deeper into the mystery of our inner world.
Drawing on Jung’s most obscure passages, Hillman concludes that the anima is ultimately the bridge to the unconscious. The anima animates the natural world, personifies psychic contents, mythologizes our lived experiences, provides our individualized sense of self and soul, connects us to the collective consciousness or world soul, and does these through stirring the imagination and projecting fantasy-images that give the true depth, meaning, and sense of destiny to our lives.
November 25, 2020
Primeiro contato com um texto hillmaniano e não poderia deixar de estar de acordo com as críticas que fazem a ele. Em um livro bem desorganizado, ao meu ver, ele apresenta algumas novas concepções para o conceito de anima baseadas na psicologia arquetípica.
Em muitos momentos cita Jung, mas de um jeito totalmente enviesado, sem muitos cuidados metodológicos. Sei que o formato é de ensaio e aparentemente foi retirado de uma palestra, mas o uso de citações de Jung incompletas e sem preocupação com o ano, já demonstra um grande descuido do autor.
Ele traz algumas noções interessantes em relação a existência da anima nas mulheres e a reintera que esses conceitos foram formulados em um tempo histórico com limitações de gênero e do que é feminino e masculino. Mas é muito suspeito como ele trata apenas da anima. Tendência que eu vejo acontecer em muitos pós-junguianos, de enfatizar apenas um par e acabar esquecendo do animus.
Isso pra mim só enfatiza a hipótese da influência da subjetivização masculina nos homens ou de uma grande fascinação destes por esse arquétipo. Enfim, não recomendo a leitura, acho que Jung delimitou esses conceitos com os limites de seu tempo, mas Hillman não traz novos materiais empíricos para corroborar suas novas ideias.
Em muitos momentos cita Jung, mas de um jeito totalmente enviesado, sem muitos cuidados metodológicos. Sei que o formato é de ensaio e aparentemente foi retirado de uma palestra, mas o uso de citações de Jung incompletas e sem preocupação com o ano, já demonstra um grande descuido do autor.
Ele traz algumas noções interessantes em relação a existência da anima nas mulheres e a reintera que esses conceitos foram formulados em um tempo histórico com limitações de gênero e do que é feminino e masculino. Mas é muito suspeito como ele trata apenas da anima. Tendência que eu vejo acontecer em muitos pós-junguianos, de enfatizar apenas um par e acabar esquecendo do animus.
Isso pra mim só enfatiza a hipótese da influência da subjetivização masculina nos homens ou de uma grande fascinação destes por esse arquétipo. Enfim, não recomendo a leitura, acho que Jung delimitou esses conceitos com os limites de seu tempo, mas Hillman não traz novos materiais empíricos para corroborar suas novas ideias.
March 31, 2025
Anima: An Anatomy of a Personified Notion
On the one hand, this book provides a useful review of Jung's writings on the anima, built up on the basis of extensive direct quotations from Jung, which are thus very usefully gathered in one place. It also discusses newer ideas on the anima, developments of Jung's concepts by other Jungians who followed him.
On the other hand, while it has several useful insights and explanations, it's frequently almost as dense and opaque as Jung's own work; so it's probably better than going through all of Jung's writings on the subject, but not by all that much. I came out of it somewhat the wiser for having read it; but not by all that much.
And I'm glad I'm done.
I would also note that there are a lot more typos and proof-reading errors in the Apple Books edition than there should be.
On the one hand, this book provides a useful review of Jung's writings on the anima, built up on the basis of extensive direct quotations from Jung, which are thus very usefully gathered in one place. It also discusses newer ideas on the anima, developments of Jung's concepts by other Jungians who followed him.
On the other hand, while it has several useful insights and explanations, it's frequently almost as dense and opaque as Jung's own work; so it's probably better than going through all of Jung's writings on the subject, but not by all that much. I came out of it somewhat the wiser for having read it; but not by all that much.
And I'm glad I'm done.
I would also note that there are a lot more typos and proof-reading errors in the Apple Books edition than there should be.
June 19, 2020
Love the way this book is designed, with Hillman's long essay on the anima on the right-hand pages and relevant quotes about the anima from Jung on the left-hand pages. Not only that, illustrations by Mary Vernon appear throughout the book, too. Such an outside-the-box way of presenting the essay and effective in the way it opens up and creates dialogue in multiple ways on and off the page. I'm still working on the concept of anima and trying to take in the many things that have been said about it by so many people in the field, so it is a treat to get a lot of Hillman's thoughts on the subject here in one place. Glad I had a chance to sit down with this book.
August 20, 2008
Hillman turns his attention to the labyrinthine and often times befuddling Jungian notion of the anima. Often the anima is stereotyped into the mere personification of the feminine in the masculine psyche. Hillman destroys these reductivistic views by deepening the import of the anima into an anima-driven, (or psyche-driven, or soul-making life), based on the relativization of heroic ego consciousness and the diffuse awareness engengered by a symbolic consciousness. His concepts amplify themes begun in Re-Visioning Psychology, and I recommend reading that work before this one.
January 11, 2025
Un pò troppo verboso e cerebrale
July 25, 2025
This is the most pertinent book on the Anima I have read yet.
Hillman breaks this concept down to its most constituent component. After reading this, writings on the anima being an 'inner woman' seem almost elementary and banal in comparison.
I liked how the book is structured: Find a wide range of discussions of anima from Carl Jung's (and others') works and then elaborate/expand.
Hillman's descriptions often goes in first with a scalpel, and then a mallet. He explains, thoroughly, how the anima is essentially an archetype function which relates indefinitely into the unknown. The fact it affectively presents so often in projection of woman is largely circumstantial - as they are the most symbolically and physically available representations this archetype can utilize.
Writing this, I am still besotted with forlorn for the fleeting and unattainable feminine (Specifically, she's moving to Europe for 6 months. God damn it). Granted, this book has certainly lightened the heavy weight of this.
Hillman advises one can never fully extricate themselves from the anima anyway, and even advises against doing so.
Bit of a shame, really. 6 months is a long time.
Hillman breaks this concept down to its most constituent component. After reading this, writings on the anima being an 'inner woman' seem almost elementary and banal in comparison.
I liked how the book is structured: Find a wide range of discussions of anima from Carl Jung's (and others') works and then elaborate/expand.
Hillman's descriptions often goes in first with a scalpel, and then a mallet. He explains, thoroughly, how the anima is essentially an archetype function which relates indefinitely into the unknown. The fact it affectively presents so often in projection of woman is largely circumstantial - as they are the most symbolically and physically available representations this archetype can utilize.
Writing this, I am still besotted with forlorn for the fleeting and unattainable feminine (Specifically, she's moving to Europe for 6 months. God damn it). Granted, this book has certainly lightened the heavy weight of this.
Hillman advises one can never fully extricate themselves from the anima anyway, and even advises against doing so.
Bit of a shame, really. 6 months is a long time.
October 23, 2021
I'm not sure this book will make much sense if you don't have at least a bit of grounding in Jungian psychology, but if you do, it's a very important addition/corrective to the tradition, one that confirms my sense that Hillman may be the best Jungian, including Jung. The take-home is that "anima," usually considered as an entity in herself, should be experienced/understood as a key aspect of "syzygy consciousness"--a consciousness inherently grounded in relationship between seeming opposites, most importantly here anima/animus, soul/spirit, experience/idea. The terms proliferate, which is part of Hillman's point. Anyway, if you're deeply into Jung, put this at/near the top of your list.
October 22, 2023
A good perspective into the anima, something I find quite difficult to comprehend usually. He leaves enough room for exploration but gives enough information to avoid misconceptions about it. I liked the piece where he divorced the notion of anima being purely an embodiment of eros- she is much more than just Freudian libido.
Though I found the layout interesting at first, I felt it wasn't the optimum design and at times was difficult to keep up with both sides of the pages. Hillman's second half is much stronger, but the foundational first serves its purpose of creating scaffolds quite well. Brief but well expounded.
Though I found the layout interesting at first, I felt it wasn't the optimum design and at times was difficult to keep up with both sides of the pages. Hillman's second half is much stronger, but the foundational first serves its purpose of creating scaffolds quite well. Brief but well expounded.
Want to read
February 27, 2022This is now the second time I have tried to read this book. I just am not at the level of philosophical and psychological literacy to currently really understand it, and I do not want to slog my way through it simply for the sake of adding it to a neat, compiled list of books I have read. A book to return to in a few years
December 17, 2019
Classic Hillman and a really detailed insight into the complicated matter that is the anima. A bit technical and semantic for those not critically interested in the subject. The collected Jung citations alone are worth the price of admission. Great layout / artwork. A pleasure to read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews