Metaphor and Imaginal Psychology

<p><em>Metaphor and Imaginal Psychology: A Hermetic Reflection</em> provides the first full-length exploration of the significance of metaphor in post-Jungian psychology. Its portrayal of the mythological figure of Hermes as a personification of metaphor marks an original contribution to the field of metaphor studies.</p><p>After a 2,500-year exile from philosophy and related areas of study, beginning with Plato’s ejection of the poets from the ideal city-state, metaphor is today experiencing a season of renewal. Among the fields where its significance as a way of seeing, thinking, and feeling has been especially prominent is archetypal psychology, perhaps the most philosophically attuned of psychological disciplines.</p><p>Approaching the work of James Hillman and other key archetypal psychologists from a poststructuralist perspective, <i>Metaphor and Imaginal Psychology</i> draws insightful comparisons between archetypal psychology and the deconstructive philosophy of Jacques Derrida, a principle theorist of metaphor’s philosophical resurgence.</p><p>By linking two disciplines that might at first appear as strange bedfellows, <i>Metaphor and Imaginal Psychology</i> underscores the influence of metaphor in reason and emotion, and makes a compelling case for the Mercurial ethos of our postmodern world. Aside from representing essential reading for therapists and theorists working in post-Jungian studies, the book will appeal to readers, students and scholars of literary criticism, psychology, philosophy and mythology.</p>