The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell

the hero with a thousandfaces joseph campbell

Overview

Often cited as Joseph Campbell’s best book, this classic study traces the story of the hero’s journey and transformation through virtually all the mythologies of the world, revealing the one archetypal hero in them all. Originally published in 1949, it has inspired generations of students and sold nearly one million copies in various editions.

Publisher Princeton University Press
Year 1973
Pages 416
Filesize 16.2 MB
Format PDF

Summary

“It is the purpose of the present book to uncover some of the truths disguised for us under the figures of religion and mythology by bringing together a multitude of not too difficult examples and letting the ancient meaning become apparent of itself. The old teachers knew what they were saying. Once we have learned to read again their symbolic language, it requires no more than the talent of an anthologist to let their teaching be heard. But first we must learn the grammar of the symbols, and as a key to this mystery I know of no better modern tool than psychoanalysis. Without regarding this as the last word on the subject, one can nevertheless permit it to serve as an approach.

The second step will be then to bring together a host of myths and folk tales from every corner of the world, and to let the symbols speak for themselves. The parallels will be immediately apparent; and these will develop a vast and amazingly constant statement of the basic truths by which man has lived throughout the millenniums of his residence on the planet.”

Contents

  • PROLOGUE: THE MONOMYTH
  1. Myth and Dream
  2. Tragedy and Comedy
  3. The Hero and the God
  4. The World Navel
  • PART I: THE ADVENTURE OF THE HERO
    • CHAPTER I: DEPARTURE
      1. The Call to Adventure
      2. Refusal of the Call
      3. Supernatural Aid
      4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
      5. The Belly of the Whale
    • CHAPTER II: INITIATION
      1. The Road of Trials
      2. The Meeting with the Goddess
      3. Woman as the Temptress
      4. Atonement with the Father
      5. Apotheosis
      6. The Ultimate Boon
    • CHAPTER III: RETURN
      1. Refusal of the Return
      2. The Magic Flight
      3. Rescue from Without
      4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
      5. Master of the Two Worlds
      6. Freedom to Live
    • CHAPTER IV: THE KEYS
  • PART II: THE COSMOGONIC CYCLE
    • CHAPTER I: EMANATIONS
      1. From Psychology to Metaphysics
      2. The Universal Round
      3. Out of the Void—Space
      4. Within Space—Life
      5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold
      6. Folk Stories of Creation
    • CHAPTER II: THE VIRGIN BIRTH
      1. Mother Universe
      2. Matrix of Destiny
      3. Womb of Redemption
      4. Folk Stories of Virgin Motherhood
    • CHAPTER III: TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE HERO
      1. The Primordial Hero and the Human
      2. Childhood of the Human Hero
      3. The Hero as Warrior
      4. The Hero as Lover
      5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant
      6. The Hero as World Redeemer
      7. The Hero as Saint
      8. Departure of the Hero
    • CHAPTER IV: DISSOLUTIONS
      1. End of the Microcosm
      2. End of the Macrocosm

Extract

"The cosmogonic cycle is presented with astonishing consistency in the sacred writings of all the continents, and it gives to the adventure of the hero a new and interesting turn; for now it appears that the perilous journey was a labor not of attainment but of reattainment, not discovery but rediscovery. The godly powers sought and dangerously won are revealed to have been within the heart of the hero all the time. He is 'the king’s son' who has come to know who he is and therewith has entered into the exercise of his proper power—'God’s son,' who has learned to know how much that title means. From this point of view the hero is symbolical of that divine creative and redemptive image which is hidden within us all, only waiting to be known and rendered into life."

Author

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an inspiring teacher, popular lecturer, and author, editor and translator of many books on mythology, including The Mythic Image (Princeton/Bollingen Paperbacks)

Download Book

Title The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell
Author
Publisher Princeton University Press
Date 1973
Pages 416
Country United States of America
ISBN 0691017840
Format PDF
URL Download Joseph Campbell The Hero with a Thousand Faces Joseph Campbell pdf