The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Bollingen) - Softcover

Joseph Campbell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691017840 ISBN 13: 9780691017846

Publisher: Princeton Bollingen, 1972

Synopsis

Joseph Campbell's classic cross-cultural study of the hero's journey has inspired millions and opened up new areas of research and exploration. Originally published in 1949, the book hit the New York Times best-seller list in 1988 when it became the subject of The Power of Myth, a PBS television special.

The first popular work to combine the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, the book creates a roadmap for navigating the frustrating path of contemporary life. Examining heroic myths in the light of modern psychology, it considers not only the patterns and stages of mythology but also its relevance to our lives today--and to the life of any person seeking a fully realized existence.

Myth, according to Campbell, is the projection of a culture's dreams onto a large screen; Campbell's book, like Star Wars, the film it helped inspire, is an exploration of the big-picture moments from the stage that is our world. It is a must-have resource for both experienced students of mythology and the explorer just beginning to approach myth as a source of knowledge.

About this title

Review:

Campbell's words carry extraordinary weight, not only among scholars but among a wide range of other people who find his search down mythological pathways relevant to their lives today... The book for which he is most famous, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, [is] a brilliant examination, through ancient hero myths, of man's eternal struggle for identity. Time Magazine

From the Back Cover:

Despite their infinite variety of incident, setting, and number costume, the myths of the world offer only a limited number of responses to the riddle of life.

In this fascinating and influential book, Joseph Campbell presents the composite hero. Apollo, the Frog King of the fairy tale, Wotan, the Buddha., and numerous other protagonists of folklore and religion enact simultaneously the various phases of their common story.

The relationship of their timeless symbols to those discovered in dream by contemporary depth psychology is taken as a starting point for interpretation. The psychological view is then compared with the words of such spiritual leaders as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao-tse, and the 'Old Man' of the Australian tribes. From behind a thousand faces the single hero looks out, archetype of all human myth.

"Campbell's words carry extraordinary weight, not only among scholars but a wide range of other people who find his search down mythical pathways relevant to their lives today."
TIME

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton Bollingen
• Publication date: 1972
• ISBN 10: 0691017840
• ISBN 13: 9780691017846
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 439