The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Rating:
Summary: Still influential
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Impressive display of insight into myth and human experience
Review: Campbell's vast breadth of knowledge of world myths, religions, literature and history is impressively conveyed in this book. He seems to be an expert in several arenas that combine to offer the reader a panorama of insights in humanity's and individuals' journeys.

He adroitly relates many mythological or true stories and uses them as examples to discuss points about the human experience similar to how Jung would use archetypes to describe a person's psychological profile.

This is a helpful and interesting book. A couple of times I became weary of the details of some obscure myths and sped along to the next point of Campbell. It offers a plethora of information.

Any interest in myth, religions, philosphy, psychology or human development will be rewarded here.

Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: Excellent presentation of the hero's myth and its universality. I initially found the audio tape version and later bought the text because of how it impressed me.

Rating:
Summary: How can you not like this book?
Review: I was enchanted by this book. Did I really say enchanted? Yes, this was very well-written and entertaining throughout. Joseph Campbell was a pioneer in comparative religions/mythologies and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this particular book. He may rely a lot on C.G. Jung and Vedic philosophy, but it is still applicable and his structure of the hero mythos has validity. Some may find this an oversimplification, but I would agree with Campbell that the basic elements of the hero mythos that he presents are to be found in the majority of the myths and legends that exist. The writing style was engaging, and I did not find it to be too "dry" or "scholarly".

Rating:
Summary: A classic treatise on the mythological hero
Review: Joseph Campbell was undoubtedly one of the most influential mythologists of the twentieth century. This, his crowning achievement, celebrates the nature of myth, and in particular the nature of the mythological hero. Drawing from sources all over the globe, from primitive stories to complex pantheistic mythologies, and including many religions still extant today, such as Christianity and Buddhism, Campbell explains the archetypal elements of the hero myth, the different forms of the heroic quest, and the purpose of the hero's life work.

Campbell's work is important because of its attempt to resurrect myth--in other words, to restore its credibility in a technological society where science rules all--and to show the important function which myth can play, even in a society as complex as ours. He argues that "whenever the poetry of myth is interpreted as biography, history, or science, it is killed" (in Chapter IV of part one, "the keys"). In other words, myth should not be viewed literally, but rather allegorically for the lesson it can teach. Furthermore, Campbell argues that truth manifests itself in many different forms, ranging from a simple fairy-tale to a complex Egyptian ritual. For Campbell, the purpose of myth is to rise above the limits set by science and reasoning, and to provide mankind with a metaphysical form of fulfillment not attainable through modern technology.

Campbell's analysis of the various parts of the hero myth is very enlightening. There are shortcomings, of course (as there necessarily must be), and the archetypes he defines are not universal in nature. Still, he does a remarkable job of showing how myths from all parts of the globe often create essentially the same hero, albeit in different forms and with different attributes dependent on local customs. My only complaint with this book is that I believe Campbell takes the parallels of psychoanalysis and myth too far, especially in Part One of the book. His argument is made good by the many examples of similar myths from distinct parts of the globe, and the use of modern dreams as examples does only little to strengthen this hypothesis.

I believe this work is a necessary part of any study of mythology. It may be dated, true, but that does not entirely discredit it as a strong analysis of the universal hero. I certainly do not regard this work as authoritative on the subject of myth, but I do think Campbell's argument is one worth considering.