I have discovered that this book is probably one of the most influential, widely read books of the 20th century. It's no wonder the author, Joseph Campbell, was featured in a Bill Moyers special on The Power of Myth (with an accompanying book, as usual for Bill Moyer's specials.)

I was reading books on writing-- on story structure-- Particularly, Christopher Vogler's excellent Writer's Journey, and it was based on this book. Ironically, I was already reading another of Campbell's series of books on myth. But then I started looking deeper into this realm-- the idea of the Hero's journey, -- the call to adventure, refusing the call, finding a mentor, encountering threshold guardians, crossing the threshold, facing the worst evil, winning the elixir--- and I discovered that dozens of books have been written about the concepts Joseph Campbell first broached.

It's such a powerful idea, and so useful in conceptualizing life's changes. I used it as an element in a presentation I just gave this past weekend on how the art and science of story can be applied to healing and helping people grow. 80% of the people attending the lecture were familiar with the concept.

This is such powerful material, you might consider essential for helping you understand the way movies are made, and how the contemporary world has been affected by advertising and the loss of sacred rituals in everyday life.

One way I gauge a book is by how many marks I make in the margins, to indicate wise ideas or quotable material ( I collect quotes, and quotation books big-time, owning over 400 quotation books) and this book's margins are just packed. The depth of knowledge in mythology and anthropology is awesome, providing a wealth of examples, metaphors, ancient stories and myths which deepen your understanding of human nature. The only problem with this book is how often, in conversations, I've found it to be relevant, whether talking about a friend who is going through some tough times, or someone who is making some changes in his business.

Rob Kall


A classic, yes-- it's but one that's flawed and aging   September 26, 2002
 90 out of 104 found this review helpful

Joseph Campbell's _The Hero with the Thousand Faces_ is one of the most important works ever written in the history of the study of "myth". Penned a half-century ago, it brought a (largely Jungian) psychoanalytical perspective to the study of mythology-- and of literature and through it, argued that asame basic narrative pattern could be found all myths-- and even folktales and literary texts. Campbell termed this pattern the 'monomyth' and argued that it was essentially the basic narrative form that informed all myth-making and story-telling,
of all kinds, among all cultures.

Campbell recognizes, of course, that this basic pattern-- this narrative 'archetype' (to borrow a good Jungian word) varies somewhat in different stories. But ultimately, he argues, it's based on one basic kind of story. Campbell takes the time to outline what he sees as being the basic structural components of this story-- the 'stages of the hero', which include the 'call to adventure', the various kinds of adventures that happen on the hero's quest, and the return home. Campbell spends a great deal of time talking about each of these, as well as their various substages-- in particularly psycoanalytical terms. One of the likely encounters in the monomyth, fr example, is the 'encounter with the temptress' or the encounter with the benevolent goddess, who comes to represent the mother. For each of these stages, he provides ample quotations and summaries of various myths to show that this isn't just some crazy theory-- you actually can see it operating in the stories of legend, folktale, myth, and even literature.

For those sympathetic to a psychoanalytical reading of myths, this book is highly compelling. It also seems to be compatiable with a wide range of other 20th century ideas on the nature of myth and literature, with connections to Northrop Frye's theory of archetypes (in _An Anatomy of Criticism), to the work of structural folkorists (like Vladimir Propp), and of course to the the work of Freud, Jung, and those who sought to apply their ideas to the study of story (especially Otto Rank's _The Birth of the Hero_).

While I am generally sympathetic to this kind of approach, I nonetheless feel that this classic text, important and full of insight as it is, strikes me as a bit flawed. The biggest problem I have is the fact that it just ties everything up a bit too neatly, a bit too certainly, a bit too conveniently. Campbell always chooses mythic stories that support his particular point-- or at least he interprets them in ways that seem to. Yet, there are plenty of stories out there that would seem to go against a particular point-- and many of the ones he cites could well be interpreted quite differently. Moreover, the fact the remains that, while there may be fundamental similarities among mythic narratives, there are still differences. By emphasizing the existence of the monomyth and downplaying the relevance of those differenes, Campbell seems to me to be stripping individual myths (and distinctive mythologies produced by different cultures) of their unique character and cultural relevance simply in order to fit them into his (reductionist?) theoretical framework.

Readers should also be aware that the study of mythology has moved in many new directions since this book was first published and that, in many ways, it isgetting increasingly dated. The structuralist approach to myth pioneered by Levi-Strauss and the more semiotic understandings advanced by Barthes (and others) offer compelling interpretations of what myths are and how they work... ones that have nothing to do with psychoanalysis. That's not to say that it's unimportant, irrelevant, outdated, or any of that. Quite the contrary, this book remains a classic. Still, it's hardly the be-all and end-all of myth-scholarship these days, and I would encourage readers who like this to *also* explore other theories and interpretations of myth than Cambell's.


A Book with a capital "B."   July 7, 2002
 57 out of 63 found this review helpful

First of all, I feel inadequate and unworthy to review this book, but since Amazon has given me the chance, all I can say is that this is one of the greatest Books (with a capital "B") of my experience. I suspect that it shall be recognised as one of the single greatest products to come out of 20th century American letters.

No, I'm not setting Campbell up as a prophet or anything like that, indeed, I suspect that this book's greatness lies in the eternal truths that transcend Campbell's individual personality. He just managed to tap into them- thank God.

The entire book deals with the hero's journey. This is the Monomyth shared by all cultures- and indeed seems to be a direct inspiration from the cosmos itself by way of the collective unconscious. Here we have the eternal cycle of 1) the call to adventure; 2) the crossing of the threshold; 3) the tests, trials, and helpers; 4) the sacred marriage, apotheosis (becoming one with god), or elixir theft; 5)the flight 6) recrossing/ressurection; and 7) the return to society with hard won gifts. He examines all of these elements in depth with a wealth of cross-cultural examples. The first half of the book deals with this cycle on a more individual and personal level (the microcosm), while the second half deals with the greater cosmogonic importance (the macrocosm.)

Now, the really amazing part of all this is that virtually all of it comes across as meaningful, interesting, and totally nonacademic. That's why academic types hate Campbell, and his mentor Jung,- they know that Campbell's and Jung's works will endure and be read a thousand years from now, while their own monographs will be justly forgotten. There are a lot of mediocre Ph.D's out there that can never forget that Campbell never bothered to get a doctorate, because he considered such degrees to be a worthless and meaningless waste of time....

I've read this particular edition three times now- it is well designed and manufactured and has resonable sized print. I've also listened to the entire audio version at least twice- it is well edited and it is very difficult to figure out where exactly it is abridged.


A dated classic, and here's why...   August 28, 2006
 48 out of 106 found this review helpful

Both as a commentary on the stages of myth and as its own mono myth, there is no denying the genuine artistry that Joseph Campbell has brought to this effort. But the reason he has been awarded a mere star is the same reason that hopefully this review itself will be dated when you read it -- namely because evolutionary behavioral psychology has made huge strides since 1948.

As can be seen by reading Campbell's book, back in 1948 names like Jung and Freud were still seriously referenced as a basis for understanding and explaining human behavior.

Now, thanks to the efforts of cognitive researchers like Harvard's Dan Schacter, Dr. V.S. Ramashandran, Matt Ridley, and religious researchers like Pascal Boyer, we know a lot more about how the human mind cognates in general and why people believe in myths generally and religion specifically.

Whereas before ideas like "collective unconscious" could be bandied about seriously, now cognitive researchers are in agreement that cognition acts (and powerfully so at that) on an individual basis to make people ideat the way that they do.

In the seven million years since humans and chimpanzees split off from each other there's been a host of evolutionary influences affecting human cognition. In a mundane example research between chimpanzees and their cousin bonabos demonstrates that while chimpanzees exist in male dominated clans characterized by frequent violence and mistreatment of young not the progeny of the lead male, bonabos on the other hand have a more egalitarian society characterized by mutual rearing of young and a mutual sharing of resources.

The difference: chimpanzees and bonabos occupy different ecological niches. Bonabos sort of have the territory to themselves while chimpanzees have been forced to share limited resources with other primates. In this way, the chimpanzee/bonabo difference mimics what existed through the vast bulk of human evolution where homo sapiens sapiens had to compete right up until as recently as twelve thousand years ago with other human like species.

In this way, the evolutionary behavioral proclivities of humans were vastly effected by the manner in which they evolved.

And as they evolved they came to have innate abilities with respect to understanding their environment. In this regard, even babies have an understanding of basic pre Newtonian physics (objects fall, not rise, etc.). Even babies have a mental template for understanding that all animals needs to feed, that they reproduce, etc. Even babies understand that there are other humans and can distinguish early on their mother from all other humans (the beginning of a long road of what will become highly accute abilities to interact socially).

And even babies have the ability to pick up language. Indeed language itself helps us to understand the non Freudian basis of myth. As has been observed, all languages follow the same subject/predicate format. In other words, everyone is programed with an internal order for formulating thought.

Thanks to the work of Pascal Boyer, we now know that religious ideas are especially tempting because they play on basic human perceptions. As indicated within this review, all humans have templates representing typical animal and human behavior. What Boyer has shown is that if a novelty is added to the report of some animal's behavior our minds tend to uniquely categorize it.

For example, a cat than become invisible is more memorable than a mere cat. As also has been observed by Boyer, religion is when novelty combines with personal relevance: not only does the cat become invisible but when invisible it sees and rewards righteous behavior.

Now back to language and a sense of order...

Like Vladimir Propp with fairy tales, Joseph Campbell has given us (albeit a very eloquent one) a standard template or model of how a myth exists. Where his work, despite his best intentions, falls short, is in explaining "why" myths should follow the schema he has laid out (or fairy tales should follow a similar schema laid out by Propp).

In this way, evolutionary behavioral studies and pointedly not Freud or Jung help us compare the mythic structure to what is going on in human evolutionary history.

As explained by Campbell the myth starts when a "hero" is given a challenge; the "hero" then receives assistance or a talisman from an elder; and then the "hero" successfully faces the challenge. With all due respect, for hunter gatherer societies this structure would describe nothing less than the education of a new hunter on his first hunt. Like the hero, the young hunter is forced to join the hunt. Without exception every stage of human like evolution has been characterized by its own "tool kit" or set of implements to ensure success on the hunt. In each case, the "tool kit" would not be the hunter's own invention but his bequeath from his elders. Properly used, he would have success, overcoming the dangers of prehistoric hunting and return successful.

So humbly, the "anatomy" of mythic structure therefore does not derive from some Freudian or Jungian dream myth confusion but rather inherited evolutionary imperative.

The traditional mythic and fairy tale structures advanced by Campbell and Propp therefore rely heavily on the basic physics, causation, animal and social templates used by all humans and use them in universally organized and predictable fashions based on human evolution.

As indicated at the outset, hopefully this review will be dated just like Campbell's book now is. To be sure the author makes no claim that it bears a like eloquence as Campbell.

However, like Campbell, this author remains skeptical that humans have produced an unquestionable bible that can or should stifle further human inquiry into our origins.