The Hero with a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell)

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I came across this book when I begun to listen to Jordan Peterson's teachings and I will say that I was intrigued immediately with the concept of the book. And as I read, I am amazed as it opens door to room of knowledge and wisdom. Grateful.

A fine fabric of history of spirtual evolution of humans across cultures, woven exquisitely with fibres of mythological symbols...none other than JC could have done this...a must read for anyone interested in spirituality, mythology, creative arts, anthropology, psychoanalysis or simply anyone who wishes to know the utmost significance of myth in human life..

"Between the times when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamt of. And onto this came Conan, destined to bear the jewelled crown of Aquilonia upon a troubled brow. It is I, his chronicler, who alone can tell thee of this saga. Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!" THIS is how this book should have begun, followed by a style that (again) should have reminded us of Basil Poledouris in all his glory. Alas! That did NOT happen. It's a very erudite, very heavy work. Campbell is no Howard. Neither did he try to get published in Weird Tales. But then what exactly did he do, that has made this tome such a reverential text? The book has the following major sections~ * Prologue: The Monomyth— probably the most important part of this book that acts as the pod from which springs forth the rest of the book. Part I: The Adventure of the Hero— it has further sections titled 'Departure', 'Initiation', 'Return', and 'The Keys'. Part II: The Cosmogonic Cycle— it has further sections titled 'Emanations', 'The Virgin Birth', 'Transformation of the Hero', and 'Dissolutions'. *Epilogue: Myth and Society. These are followed by Endnotes, Bibliography, Index etc. The book is heavily illustrated and densely packed with all types of notes. Reading it makes one dizzy and/or gives a serious headache. But Campbell very convincingly establishes the case that~ Firstly, like the Jungian archetypes that describe our present existence, there exists archetypes that describe and define our myths to a great extent. Secondly, these archetypes describe, predict, apprehend the rise and fall of heroes in every culture, who might have played extremely significant roles in the prevailing religion, culture, and collective psyche of the people. Thirdly, these archetypes have a close association with cosmogony of the people and the notion of time and creation shapes the destinies of these heroes to a great extent. To establish these thoughts and principles, Campbell has scoured the myths of East, West, North and South. Empirically he has taken Hellenic or Abrahamic characters as his heroes (with the exception of Buddha). But he has talked about characters, events and myths of nearly every country. So convincing has been his presentation that ever since publication the monomyth of Hero's journey has influenced pop-culture rather excessively. Star Wars, Harry Potter, countless fantasy and scifi works have followed these tropes consciously or unconsciously. Thus, Campbell would have been very pleased to know, his theory has become an Ouroboro! But it's so dense that keeping track of all the myths, comparing them with the illustrations (and trying to find parallel examples in pop-culture— which I ALWAYS do) gave me a serious headache. Hence I am dropping a star. But otherwise this is definitely recommended. And let's hope that someday, SOMEDAY, this book would be written in the style that would have made Howard happy.

As all his works, this was just as brilliant a read as his Power Of Myth series

The product seems to be of high quality Meets usual standards What is good- great content what can improve is- binding quality

Best book

Brilliant observation in the first half. Second half is just context around his findings. His own creation 'The Cosmos', a mix of various myths. Which only a discerning thinker can realize, is incongruent and irrational, especially when HE STARTS TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE. You can notice that he is rational and glides into being irrational when it suits the purpose. Every guy is a spiritual these days.lol.

awesome

The collection of stories deconstructed by Campbell weave together what he calls the mono-myth. The mono-myth is the constituents of elements used to construct the fundamental framework for creation stories, literature in general, and theology. For those who are attempting to navigate through a life filled with tragedy and obstacles learning these symbolic representations may give you the inspiration to continue enduring as you undertake the hero’s journey. This book is cited numerous times in respected literature pertaining to sociology, behavioral psychology, and evolutional psychology. For that reason (among many others) it was a MUST read for me. If you are equally enthusiastic about those subject then this book will certainly keep you captivated throughout. I would definitely place this book as a significant piece of work for understanding the primordial mind (emotional mind. The Elephant to the Rider). •SUMMARY• The book takes us through a journey of stories that have been constructed from behavioral patterned observed by a self-conscience organism, humans. We later assigned significance to those patterns, constructing patterns to them. Those patterns then transcended beyond the representations of specific events and evolve into psychological representations for life at a high-level. Like a tarot card or astrology reading that could be broadly applied to nearly everyone, the symbolic representation in these stories are fluid and relevant differently subject to a particular culture. In the prologue, he suggests that our intrinsic desire to connect with our ancestral spirit (which is the lessons encoding into our mind throughout the mind's evolution) is elemental to the nourishment of the success of survival. •PART 1• The call to action engenders the hero to begin his journey beyond his real of comfort and the constraints of society. The hero is introduced to multiple trials and tribulations along the journey. Once the hero is triumphant he passes the threshold and moves onto a new world of knowledge. Upon the end of his voluntary voyage into the unknown, he must invoke his life changing-boon. “The Keys” commentates how the secular perspective towards mythology catalyzes in the removal of its primary utility which is to episodically represent symbolism. The symbolism is the suggested narrative that we act out to tend towards Peterson’s heaven — for example. •PART 2• Campell cites Jung often, especially his main idea of the collective unconscious construction of archetypes and symbols. These symbols can characterize many things but the common elements consist of fear, hope, good, evil, and other fundamental elements for survival observed and encapsulated by the narrative. Emphasis on both the creator’s sexes aspects is depicted by stories and mythology. The sequence of life from the virgin birth to death; mainly, mortality is a quintessential component needed for the exploratory character to become the hero. During the hero’s journey s/he has the ability to become one of the various options: the warrior, the lover, the emperor/tyrant, the world redeemer, or the saint. There are two types of deaths that mythologies describe, the first is personal (microcosm), and the second is universal(macrocosm). The birth, life, thriving and death/parish.

A must read. I recommend it as a storyteller and as a person who enjoys reading.

Excelente producto 👍🏼

The key to understanding this classic book, and getting the most from it, is to realise that it's actually all about YOU. Campbell wrote it for YOU. Just think about the title for a start. YOU are the hero and your hero's journey is all about finding your inner life, your divine spark, and being engulfed and re-born out of it. This is what all the world's great hero myths were really talking about, symbolically, and Campbell brilliantly draws together the universal themes and parallels running through all the world's mystical and religious traditions, all of which were concerned (when understood metaphorically instead of literally) with this marvellous "death and resurrection" of the human psyche - from human animal to divine incarnation. It's a heroic deed which we all have the potential to achieve, and this book vibrantly and beautifully recollects many anicent stories that have drawn Mankind's imagination toward this very real transformation, through the use of the oldest and best means at our disposal - symbolic storytelling. This book is not just for the student or teacher of mythology or comparative religion, it's for everyone on the spiritual path. In fact, this book speaks directly to you wherever you are right now in life, whether on that path or not. Simply brilliant, and possibly the most important book of the 20th century. Even the full five star rating is not enough!