3 Review(s)

The Hero With A Thousand Faces deals with the topic of comparative mythology. It discusses the author's view of the journey of the quintessential hero found in many a mythological stories across the world. Summary Of The Book In his book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, the author presents to the reader his theory stating that some of the most popular myths from across the world that continue to survive in this day and age, share a similar and fundamental structure with common stages that the hero of the myth typically goes through. This the author terms as "the monomyth". He then goes on to elaborate his theory by saying that most of the heroes in such myths initially begin their journey in the ordinary world and then go on to receive a call beckoning them to enter a completely different world, a world of spiritual wonder, strange powers and events. If the hero heeds to this call, he is most likely to face a period of trials where he is faced with difficult tasks, either facing them alone or with some kind of assistance. At the peak of this intense journey, the hero must face and survive his toughest challenge yet, mostly with the help that he has earned along the way. In such a case, if the hero survives the challenge, he may earn a great gift that leads him onto the discovery of some profound self-knowledge. The next stage is where the hero must decide whether to return with this gift into the ordinary world for some greater good. The return journey is again fraught with more challenges and obstacles. Furthermore, The Hero With A Thousand Faces goes onto say that it is very unlikely that a myth follows all of these stages and it is quite likely that some myths have a few of them while the others don’t. The author then cites the examples of Christ, Buddha and Moses to strengthen his theory about the “monomyth”. The Hero With A Thousand Faces was named as one of the 100 best and most influential English books by Time magazine in 2011. It has been translated into more than twenty languages like French, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese, and has sold more than a million copies globally. Since the time it was first published in 1949, it has continued to influence intellectuals, artists, authors and filmmakers. Noted among them is George Lucas, who acknowledged it to have inspired the Star Wars stories. About Joseph Campbell Joseph Campbell was an American writer, lecturer and mythologist. Some of his other well known books are The Masks Of God, Myths To Live By, Historical Atlas Of World Mythology, The Inner Reaches Of Outer Space and The Flight Of The Wild Gander. Campbell was born on March 26, 1904, in White Plains, New York. He received his BA in English literature and MA in Medieval literature from Columbia University. In 1934, he joined Sarah Lawrence College as a professor and taught there for 38 years. He is best known for his books on comparative religion and mythology covering the many facets of human experience. He died on October 30, 1987.