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The Hero With a Thousand Faces (Bollingen, No 17) (v. 6) | 
 enlarge | Author: Joseph Campbell
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $69.50
Buy Used: $9.73
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Rating:  111 reviews
Sales Rank: 1823041
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.5
ISBN: 0691097437
Dewey Decimal Number: 291.13
EAN: 9780691097435
ASIN: 0691097437
Publication Date: June 1968
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Amazon.com Review
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.
Product Description
Despite their infinite variety of incident, setting, and costume, the myths of the world offer only a limited number of responses to the riddle of life. In this best-selling volume, Joseph Campbell presents the composite hero. Through Campbell's eyes, we see Apollo, the Frog King of the fairy tale, Wotan, the Buddha, and numerous other protagonists of folklore and religion enacting simultaneously the various phases of their common story. Campbell begins his interpretation of these timeless symbols by examining their relationship to those rediscovered in dreams by depth psychology. The psychological view is then compared with the words of such spiritual leaders as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao-tse, and the "Old Men" of the Australian tribes. From behind a thousand faces, the single hero emerges, archetype of all myth.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 106 more reviews...
 A Jungian Classic January 8, 2009
This was Campbell's first great book, published in 1949 (the same year, coincidentally, as Jean Gebser's "Ever Present Origin," Mircea Eliade's "Myth of the Eternal Return" and Erich Neumann's "Origins and History of Consciousness").
Campbell had already edited Heinrich Zimmer's "The King and the Corpse," a book which now reads in retrospect like a rehearsal for "Hero," since in that book Zimmer recounts a series of myths from Indian and Arthurian and Arabic lore. But whereas in this book Zimmer recounts whole myths, the main problem with the "Hero" is that it cuts the myths up into bits and pieces so that the reader is only rarely ever treated to an entire story.
Indeed, Campbell in this book is writing what he thinks is the one great story, the "monomyth," as he calls it, borrowing from Joyce, in which the great hero saves civilization by departing from it, journeying into the forest in order to contact and integrate the abyssal energies of nature and the supernatural and then to return to the society in order to reinvigorate it. It is difficult to believe, however, that every myth on the entire planet neatly fits into this schema; one senses, rather, that Campbell is really only talking about a particular kind of myth here, the myth of the dragon slaying warrior hero, the callow, naive young man who learns how to fight from the instructions of an old master and then sets off to slay monsters. This myth fits the myth of the solar hero from Buddha to Parzival, but one suspects here the projecting of linear thought structures from the rational consciousness structure of the Western mind onto the ancient stories from around the world.
"The Hero" is, despite its flaws, a great book, and it makes for especially good reading as an introduction to Campbell's work. It is probably the easiest to read of all his works and makes the fewest demands on the reader. It is the master text from which the entire myth movement in Hollywood emerged beginning in the late 1960s, and it is still spawning Hollywood special effects monstrosities. It is difficult, now, to imagine American culture without it.
It is an intensely Jungian work, however, born out of the desire to find common archetypes in all the world's mythic traditions and no sooner was it written than Campbell realized his mistake and attempted to counter it with the writing of "The Masks of God," a book dedicated to the differences between the world's great religious traditions. "The Masks of God," though four volumes, should be read together with "The Hero" for a more balanced view of the role of myth.
SEE MY LECTURE ON CAMPBELL ON YOU TUBE
--John David Ebert, author of Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons: Film as the Mythology of Electronic Society
it's all been done before, or, life's rich pageant December 16, 2008
Campbell takes us through the tragedies, comedies, adventures and redemption that form a common thread through human stories. The archetypes have universal patterns to their struggles, and I began to see a reflection of the paths of Odysseus or Buddha or Jesus in my own life.
Every life is a hero's journey, or can be if we choose to see it that way.
However, while Campbell is obviously deep and brilliant, he can also be a bit wordy and dry.
 Hard Reading November 27, 2008
1 out of 10 found this review helpful
This should be the most interesting book ever written - after all, it purports to summarize myths across cultures with a mononmyth theory as the unifying force. The problem is in the execution, and probably the underlying theory, which is certainly out-dated. Campbell writes poorly. He is hard NOT to put down. And so, alas, as with earlier editions, I could not even plod through this tome. It is useless to my understanding of the world.
Very Helpful November 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book was very helpful in my own spiritual journey. It's worth all the time you'll spend reading it.
A journey blending modern psychology with comparative mythology October 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Collector's Edition of this keepsake represents a fine presentation of a classic first released in 1949. THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES is a journey blending modern psychology with comparative mythology, and this edition offers new audiences a fine hardcover packed with black and white illustration and detail.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
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