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

Amazing book.

This is a classic for writers and storytellers and I'm ashamed to say I've only just read it at the age of 56. However, like many profound books, it's a book that means much more when one's ready for it. I'm not sure if I'd read it younger, or at a calm period in my life, that it would have had such an impact, although it's wonderfully researched and beautifully written and would be illuminating on a purely academic level. I read it after going through one of those periods where life throws up one thing after another until it seems more than just coincidence - like some sort of extreme test of one's strength. It helped me to assimilate the experience - recognising the hero's journey in my own, with its entry into dark places, its ordeals, and the eventual emergence with invisible treasure. Looking for the treasure helped me to make meaning from what I had experienced and focus on the positive instead of the negative. Since then I have looked up the myths and started reading some of the books he uses as sources, which is also proving fascinating. It's a book I will read again and again because I know I will find deeper meanings in it with each reading, and it has also given me an insight into the themes of my own life and writing, and sources for stories to tell.

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!

Joseph Campbell's writings have had more influence on late 20th century culture than you might expect: The Hero with a Thousand Faces resonates obviously through Star Wars, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings and indeed almost any other contemporary Science Fiction work you could mention, and more subtly in any one of hundreds of films and novels of the last half century. Many indeed are the fruit of Campbell's tree. In The Hero With A Thousand Faces Campbell sets out his stall early: his "monomyth" which is explained in fairly short order, and supported in more depth over the rest of the book by Campbell's account of hundreds instantiations of it embodied in myths from the Judaeo-Christian, Classical, Native American, Indian, African, Asian and Polynesian traditions. It is even illustrated, rather pointlessly, with sculptures and depictions of these various myths. This means it's a fairly quick read: it is Campbell's argument that is interesting, not his field research in support of it, and his stentorian and humourless tone in recounting the legends is no incentive to dwell on them. Campbell's main claim - to have extracted a solitary narrative essence common to all mythology - is unsustainable: even if you do allow the tortured interpretations Campbell makes of the myths he cites, the best that can be said is that any one of the dozen or more common features of the "monomyth" tend to show up in his examples (who knows whether they do in the myths he *doesn't* cite?); to say that they all do is false, even on the evidence Campbell presents in his book. And many of his examples don't fit comfortably into the roles which Campbell assigns them. So in that regard, Campbell's thesis needs to be watered down to have any real value. As do the courage of his convictions in the validity of psychoanalysis: treating Freud and Jung as gospel in this day and age seems more than a little quaint. But that's not to say there isn't something to be said for the importance of the subconscious in what makes a good story, nor that the elements of the "monomyth" do appear in mythology, nor that they don't make a great foundation for a mythology. Cogent evidence or that last point is provided by Messrs Wachowski and Lucas, who have openly used Campbell's template to create latter day myths of their - and, like it or not, our - own. Where Campbell is persuasive is that myth a metaphor on which we can examine ourselves, and that as soon as we mistake metaphor for a genuine explanatory hypothesis, its very usefulness evaporates. In the current political climate, this is a point which can't be stressed enough. In summary, this ought to be compulsory reading for any aspiring screenplay writer or novelist, and will be food for thought for anyone else interested in the structure of fiction. The Hero With A Thousand Faces may be the wrong side of fifty now, but it is no relic: as long as the likes of Luke Skywalker and Neo are part of the zeitgeist, Joseph Campbell's theories will have some significance in our culture for better or for worse, for some time to come. Olly Buxton

Just started getting into the Joseph Campbell collection, and this is the 2nd book I've read after The Power of Myth, which is a book where he's referencing his collective works. So I guess this is the first proper, in and of itself, book I've read from Campbell and I'm just blown away by such an extraordinary mind. Not just in the sense of the book itself, but his ability to release the extraordinary power of reflective thought within myself and, ultimately, the power within myself to become extraordinary. Myth seems to be a powerful agent, specifically if one is lacking faith. In themselves and in the world. And Campbell unravels the absolute necessity of Myth in the modern world, using supreme historical examples which highlight his points and overall message beautifully. This is one of those books you'd urge anyone to read at least once in their lifetime.

Particularly liked the wide ranging erudition and insightful comments about different creation myths right across the planet since the dawn of human history. A far rreaching and multi-lingual survey of fables, tales and myths from Blackfoot Amrindians to Siberian shamans, and Australian Aborigines not to mention the great Hindu sagas and the Graeco-Roman heritage of modern Europe. Entertaining and educative.

We have done a marvellous job at alienating ourselves from everything real; including ourselves. The consequences are becoming more obvious every day, yet, still we divert ourselves with trivia. One way to begin to reconnect ourselves with our essential selves, our own hero, may be through a thorough study and understanding of Campbell's work. As he mentions, because of our neglect and belittlement of mythology we have become half-creatures, 'the lines of communication between the conscious and the unconscious zones of the human psyche have all been cut, and we have been split in two.' This book helps us to begin to rebuild ourselves from the piteous state in which contemporary 'education' and upbringing (or lowbringing) has left us.

I'd heard a lot about this book, and I'd previously read The Power of Myth which I really enjoyed. The idea of The Hero's Journey is very interesting, and clearly Campbell has a vast knowledge of mythology. However, I have to say this book was a bit of a let down. I found the book poorly written, and badly structured. I just couldn't get used to Campbell's writing style, his sentences are long and meandering, with asides within asides. Some paragraphs are composed of one single, unbroken sentence. He also jumps rapidly from story to story, then refers back haphazardly to stories he's previously mentioned. He never seems to fully articulate a point, he makes some vague allusions then jumps to another point. It almost seems like Campbell had so much knowledge that he just couldn't get it all on the page. I'd say overall that it's still worth reading, although it is a bit of a slog.