The Hero with a Thousand Faces
by Joseph Campbell, Ralph Blum
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joseph Campbell, Ralph BlumEdition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Abridged, Audiobook, Bargain Price
Published: 1995-03-15
ISBN: N/A
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Book Reviews of The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Book Review: The myth is greater than its parts, by breaking it down to its constituents, the magic is lost.
Summary: 3 Stars
The compilation of myths from throughout the world is both extensive and interesting, but I would say the myths as told in this book are missing their original "magic". This might be the effect of narrating only fragments of myths in each chapter (only the part that fits with the sequence of the hero's journey that is being explained) or maybe because by trying to rationalize the content of the myth, its magic dissolves.
For me myths arise in our imagination and their power resides in their ability to help us deal with the paradoxes and dualities that all human beings have to face (male/female, good/evil, etc.). Campbell prefers to think of myths and the hero's journey they imply, as a mean to overcome an unresolved issue with the father (mainly, but sometimes also with the mother). Apparently the hero succeeds only when he acknowledges that he is the same as the father ("He is in him and Him is he" or something put in equally difficult terms). These philosophical/theological views make the reading obscure and difficult and the psychoanalytical mechanisms are also some of the obstacles you will need to overcome on your hero's journey to the end of this book. On the other hand, his explanation of the dualism of good and evil in a multifaceted deity that bears the seed of creation and destruction in itself is quite interesting.
I personally enjoyed the first 90% of the The Philosophers' Secret Fire: A History of the Imagination much better. The author probably read Campbell, but his work is more recent and succeeds in transmitting you his passion for mythology. I think Mr. Harpur is more a follower of Jung than of Freud, so in his books you will meet the inhabitants of the "otherworld" (maybe archetypes), "but they will only come to haunt you if you try to annihilate their world".
Summary of The Hero with a Thousand Faces
A study of heroism in the myths of the world - an exploration of all the elements common to the great stories that have helped people make sense of their lives from the earliest times. It takes in Greek Apollo, Maori and Jewish rites, the Buddha, Wotan, and the bothers Grimm's Frog-King.Originally written by Campbell in the '40s-- in his pre-Bill Moyers days -- and famous as George Lucas' inspiration for "Star Wars," this book will likewise inspire any writer or reader in its well considered assertion that while all stories have already been told, this is *not* a bad thing, since the *retelling* is still necessary. And while our own life's journey must always be ended alone, the travel is undertaken in the company not only of immediate loved ones and primal passion, but of the heroes and heroines -- and myth-cycles -- that have preceded us.
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