Product Description

A study of heroism in the myths of the world - an exploration of all the elements common to the great stories that have helped people make sense of their lives from the earliest times. It takes in Greek Apollo, Maori and Jewish rites, the Buddha, Wotan, and the bothers Grimm's Frog-King.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7251 in Books
• Published on: 1993-09-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Joseph Campbell was born in New York City in 1904 and educated in America, France and Germany. He is the author of the four-volume study of world mythologies collectively titled 'The Masks of God', among other works. He has also edited 'The Portable Jung' and 'The Portable Arabian Nights'. He lives in Hawaii.

Customer Reviews

A landmark of 20th century literature.
Joseph Campbell was one of the great souls of our age. I've read this book twice, first on my own and the second for a class in "Myth, Religion & the Mythic Imagination." I read the paperack to tatters, literally, marking each illuminating, exhilirating insight. "Dry"? "Not a fun read"? What book did YOU read? Campbell is unlike other writers on myth; he looks not at an entire myth but at its parts. By the end of the book, he has essentially created the Ultimate Hero Myth, which takes bits of every hero myth from virtually every culture (heavy on Native Americans). Campbell was not a dispassionate academic--this was his gospel, and he lived by it. This book is alive and inspiring like no other book I know. One unique aspect of it at the time it was published was its approach to Christianity. For Campbell, Christ's life had to be seen as a myth. Before him, most Western scholars wouldn't have dare to say such a thing. Others had written on that, but in a skeptical manner. Campbell's view is that the Virgin Birth, miracles, Resurrection, etc have meaning only because they ARE myths. Look, there'd be no "Star Wars" without this. No "Sandman" comics from Neil Gaiman. No "Watership Down." This book is for the intellectual who wants to LIVE, not just to sit sterile at the desk. Recommended like mad.

A must to have in any home library!!!
An excellent and very informative read. So absorbing couldn't put it down until finished! The author presents this book in an innovative and interesting way : a psychological interpretation of the hero throughout human history and across the continents analysing various myths and legends. A must for all budding authors because the book can be used as a blueprint for writing novels through its in depth look at the role of the hero.

MY HERO
"A hero is someone who has given himself to something bigger than, or other than, himself."

That sort of definition conveys the wide applicability of "the hero cycle" articulated by Campbell. His influence on George Lucas' Star Wars films is, of course, well-known.

Campbell's thrust is to blur the distinction between established religious orthodoxy and mythology. He bluntly states that "all religions are true for their time; they are true as metaphorical representations of the range of human psychological and spiritual experience".

The very substantial influence of Carl Gustav Jung is felt throughout Campbell's work. Religious ideas are METAPHORS. When one becomes "stuck to one's metaphor", one misses the point of religion, which is - to awaken one to the presence of these forces within oneself, and instead becomes embroiled in creedbound religious formalism.

Jung maintained that "religion" is a defense against a religious experience, that if one constantly projects these ideas outwardly, rather than seeking to find and elaborate them inwardly within oneself, the inner psychology is unaffected and remains barbaric.

This is a very good starting point for Campbell's work. Be certain to see "The Power of Myth" videos with Bill Moyers for an infectiously engaging introduction to comparative religion and mythology.