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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
Finally I got through this book! It is a challenging read....I have been slowly chipping away at it for over 2 years. It is not written for a broad audience, and I struggled many times to follow Campbell's thesis. I have no doubt it is a very detailed and efficient treatment of the subject, especially for the time (1960s) but boy, it is not an easy read. I would love to be able to talk to Campbell today, and ask him how pop culture's enrapture with the superhero mythos fits into his ideas, but sadly we'll never get to hear him speak on that.
I would not recommend this for anyone wanting bedtime reading. It's very detailed, complicated, and written in an academic fashion.
I would not recommend this for anyone wanting bedtime reading. It's very detailed, complicated, and written in an academic fashion.
FINALLY finished this! I'm not the sharped tack in the box, I guess, because I had to go back repeatedly and reread passages in order to follow Dr. Campbell's theses. I don't believe I'll be going back to university soon to get that degree in cultural anthropology or religious studies.
That being said, I loved this book. I've always been fascinated with folklore, mythology and religion. I also was transfixed to the TV when Bill Moyers interviewed Joseph Campbell for a series based on this work. It was some of the best television and I highly recommend folks track the series down on YouTube (or, find it at their library) and watch it. I remember being astounded that there were other cultures with parallel stories of a hero/savior who was conceived of a virgin, overcame the world in order to save/enlighten mankind and returned to his father/attained perfection/heaven. It sure didn't hurt to break out of a narrow midwestern U.S., protestant, white, middle-class shell and find commonality with my fellow humans.
I also didn't realize that this book is one of a series: Mythos: the Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology. I may have to check out others in the series... after I recover from reading this one.
That being said, I loved this book. I've always been fascinated with folklore, mythology and religion. I also was transfixed to the TV when Bill Moyers interviewed Joseph Campbell for a series based on this work. It was some of the best television and I highly recommend folks track the series down on YouTube (or, find it at their library) and watch it. I remember being astounded that there were other cultures with parallel stories of a hero/savior who was conceived of a virgin, overcame the world in order to save/enlighten mankind and returned to his father/attained perfection/heaven. It sure didn't hurt to break out of a narrow midwestern U.S., protestant, white, middle-class shell and find commonality with my fellow humans.
I also didn't realize that this book is one of a series: Mythos: the Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology. I may have to check out others in the series... after I recover from reading this one.
Not as good as the first Masks of God which is a bit more focused on primitive mythology. The hero myth is also very interesting but because it is so prevalent in so many forms and cultures it means you jump from one culture to another so it’s a bit all over the place. So much information it’s difficult to take in but it is still really good. We are all on our own hero journeys, and they can be internal - they don’t have to be physical.
This is a good book for writers. It gives some ideas for story arcs.
An accessible, well laid out, overview of the various stages and lines of thought within world myths (a meta-analysis?). This book had been on my radar for quite some time, and I'm satisfied that I read it. Recommended to anyone, regardless of their worldviews.
Campbell presents the myths collected from various cultures and peoples ranging from Eurasian antiquity (Greeks, Egyptians, Norse) to the new world (Inuits, Pueblos, Aztecs), and interweaves effectively the commons basics and threads found in many if not most world mythologies and religions.
From the Norse Eddas and Hindu Bagavad Gita, to the Mesopotamian/Levantine Abahamaic stories, the Hero is found at the core of many of life's transitions and events... birth, death, marriage, spring, winter, harvest, feast-days. As one reads and discovers you will find that you have encountered many of the 'themes' in traditions that are not your own, but that have remarkable similarities to what you "know". It's also interesting that Campbell 'eulogizes' myth in light of modernity: "The universal triumph of the secular state has thown all religious organizations into such a definitely secondary, and finally ineffectual, position that religious pantomime is hardly more today than a sanctimonious exercise for Sunday morning..." and laments the loss of the world of myth in personal, group, and global life.
There are other more recent books that might be easier to read (Karen Armstrong's "A Short History of Myth", Kenneth Davis' "Don't Know Much About Mythology"), and other more intensive reads (Robert Bellah's "Religion in Human Evolution"), but Campbell's "HERO" is a definite must-read.
Campbell presents the myths collected from various cultures and peoples ranging from Eurasian antiquity (Greeks, Egyptians, Norse) to the new world (Inuits, Pueblos, Aztecs), and interweaves effectively the commons basics and threads found in many if not most world mythologies and religions.
From the Norse Eddas and Hindu Bagavad Gita, to the Mesopotamian/Levantine Abahamaic stories, the Hero is found at the core of many of life's transitions and events... birth, death, marriage, spring, winter, harvest, feast-days. As one reads and discovers you will find that you have encountered many of the 'themes' in traditions that are not your own, but that have remarkable similarities to what you "know". It's also interesting that Campbell 'eulogizes' myth in light of modernity: "The universal triumph of the secular state has thown all religious organizations into such a definitely secondary, and finally ineffectual, position that religious pantomime is hardly more today than a sanctimonious exercise for Sunday morning..." and laments the loss of the world of myth in personal, group, and global life.
There are other more recent books that might be easier to read (Karen Armstrong's "A Short History of Myth", Kenneth Davis' "Don't Know Much About Mythology"), and other more intensive reads (Robert Bellah's "Religion in Human Evolution"), but Campbell's "HERO" is a definite must-read.
I can't say that I enjoyed reading this book. It was difficult. It was scholarly. It was Campbell's first book and reads like a textbook.
That said, however, I learned from this book. Important things. Awesome things. So I can't not recommend it.
That said, however, I learned from this book. Important things. Awesome things. So I can't not recommend it.
Ever wonder why all myths are basically the same? Hercules, Ōkuninushi, Jesus, Luke Skywalker...etc Same story. All similar or exactly the same structure. And they are all the same because stories with this structure affect the human condition on a personal level....and can be used to organize millions for good or ill (think about the propaganda myths developed for Hitler) . The hero myth. It's fascinating.
Get more details about all the 'Hero Stages' in the book. It's great.
1) THE HERO IS INTRODUCED IN HIS ORDINARY WORLD.
2) THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.
3) THE HERO IS RELUCTANT AT FIRST.
4) THE HERO IS ENCOURAGED BY THE WISE OLD MAN OR WOMAN.
5) THE HERO PASSES THE FIRST THRESHOLD.
6) THE HERO ENCOUNTERS TESTS AND HELPERS.
7) THE HERO REACHES THE INNERMOST CAVE
8) THE HERO ENDURES THE SUPREME ORDEAL.
9) THE HERO SIEZES THE SWORD.
10) THE ROAD BACK.
11) RESURRECTION.
12) RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.
Get more details about all the 'Hero Stages' in the book. It's great.
1) THE HERO IS INTRODUCED IN HIS ORDINARY WORLD.
2) THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.
3) THE HERO IS RELUCTANT AT FIRST.
4) THE HERO IS ENCOURAGED BY THE WISE OLD MAN OR WOMAN.
5) THE HERO PASSES THE FIRST THRESHOLD.
6) THE HERO ENCOUNTERS TESTS AND HELPERS.
7) THE HERO REACHES THE INNERMOST CAVE
8) THE HERO ENDURES THE SUPREME ORDEAL.
9) THE HERO SIEZES THE SWORD.
10) THE ROAD BACK.
11) RESURRECTION.
12) RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.
Enjoyed the book especially the epilogue . Worth another read for sure
One of the most amazing books I have ever read. Campbell intricately delves into the realm of myth and religion to show us that humanity and the cosmos are one.