Reviews

Bates ( Ransoming the Mind ) reminds readers of the importance of fairy tales as ``the metaphors and poetry of the human psyche.'' Specifically, he contends that in the story of ``The Three Little Pigs'' (the unexpurgated tale, not the sanitized, truncated version familiar to most readers) lies a powerful paradigm for inner transformation. Snippets of the tale are laboriously exegeted by the author. Bates's analysis, however, crosses the line into eisegesisreading into the text as he reads far more into the story than the text warrants, while vague anecdotes are left standing as if self-explanatory. He blends equal portions of pop psychology, Eastern philosophy and Jungian archetypes to claim that the wicked wolf is a projection of our shadow self, which must be engaged if we are to achieve personal integration. By going into partnership with the wolves of our lives, claims the author, we can grasp the divinity that is rightly ours. Bates's exposition cautions readers to recall that one should never treat evil as if it arises wholly outside oneself, a point better made by St. Augustine 1600 years ago. The very brief afterword by Bly ( Iron John ) adds little. (Sept.)