the hero of a thousand faces joseph campbell

It is great that Audible allows you to return books.ĭoesn’t translate into audio as you’d expect. Not withstanding some questionable translations, Campbell grossly mischaracterises it, trots out the Heart Sutra as if he has the first clue what it means (I think we can safely conclude that he has not himself transcended subject-object duality), and then proceeds to conflate every duality he can lay his hands on.

What really had me choking on my cornflakes however was the chapter on Buddhism. This type of psychoanalytic analysis (something that I am not amenable to) dates the book. The superficial similarities of many stories worldwide is further to be analysed in terms of rights of passage, Freudian and Jungian themes. After making this dodgy reductionist move the field is open for Campbell to further reduce and over generalise everything he can find to fit into a single monomyth about the hero. The difference is that the former is directed at a local audience whereas the latter is a mythology for everyone. For Campbell, it seems, mythology and religion are to be conflated. Campbell knits together the worlds mythologies and the stories therein are interesting and pleasant to listen to it is the connecting material that is sadly lacking. I'm afraid that I just find it a triumph of over generalisation and reductionism.

I am obviously aware that this work is treated with great reverence (it was allegedly an inspiration for Star Wars after all!). I've got half way through this and am returning it. I highly recommend it.Ī triumph of over generalisation and reductionism In audio-book form I have finally been able to enjoy this book. I don't think Campbell was a great writer. I've owned the hard copy for years but found it difficult reading. Jung and Freud believed that dreams and myths contain subconscious truths. 'Myth' in this sense means a story with meaningful symbols that convey universal insights, as well as teaching the values of the culture in which the myth originated. Campbell includes many fascinating accounts of dreams and world myths. But Jung had a lot of intuition about the human soul that still resonates. This book was written when the ideas of Freud and Jung were all the rage. Drawing on archetypes - deep universal constructs in our human psyche - Campbell explains how we are all on (or could be on) a meaningful heroic journey. Outside of religious scripture, this is one of the most meaningful and thought-provoking books I've read. Interesting note: George Lucas and Star Wars were heavily influences by this book. This is of course a classic, valued by artists, novelists and humanities-lovers for decades. Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The hero of a thousand faces joseph campbell