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The Hero With Thousand Faces by Joseph CampbellRead by Ralph BloomSince its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faceshas influenced millions of readers by combining theinsights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell’srevolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. Inthese pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, auniversal motif of adventure and transformation that runsthrough virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions.He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic patternof world creation and destruction.As relevant today as when it was first published, The Herowith a Thousand Faces continues to find new audiences infields ranging from religion and anthropology toliterature and film studies. The book has also profoundlyinfluenced creative artists—including authors, songwriters,game designers, and filmmakers—and continues to inspireall those interested in the inherent human need to tellstories. The entire book deals with the hero’s journey. This is theMonomyth shared by all cultures- and indeed seems to be adirect inspiration from the cosmos itself by way of thecollective unconscious. Here we have the eternal cycle of1) the call to adventure; 2) the crossing of the threshold; 3) the tests, trials, and helpers; 4) the sacred marriage, apotheosis (becoming one with god),or elixir theft; 5)the flight 6) recrossing/ressurection; and 7) the return to society with hard won gifts. He examines all of these elements in depth with a wealth of cross-cultural examples. The first half of the book deals with this cycle on a more individual and personal level (the microcosm), while the second half deals with the greater cosmogonic importance (the macrocosm.)Now, the really amazing part of all this is that virtually all of it comes across as meaningful, interesting, and totally nonacademic. That’s why academic types hate Campbell, and his mentor Jung,- they know that Campbell’s and Jung’s works will endure and be read a thousand years from now, while their own monographs will be justly forgotten. There are a lot of mediocre Ph.D’s out there that can never forget that Campbell never bothered to get a doctorate, because he considered such degrees to be a worthless and meaningless waste of time…. Campbell is unlike other writers on myth; he looks not at anentire myth but at its parts. By the end of the book, he hasessentially created the Ultimate Hero Myth, which takes bitsof every hero myth from virtually every culture (heavy onNative Americans). Campbell was not a dispassionate academic–this was his gospel, and he lived by it. This book isalive and inspiring like no other book I know. One uniqueaspect of it at the time it was published was its approachto Christianity. For Campbell, Christ’s life had to be seenas a myth. Before him, most Western scholars wouldn’t havedare to say such a thing. Others had written on that, but ina skeptical manner. Campbell’s view is that the Virgin Birth,miracles, Resurrection, etc have meaning only because theyARE myths. Look, there’d be no “Star Wars” without this. No”Sandman” comics from Neil Gaiman. No “Watership Down.” Thisbook is for the intellectual who wants to LIVE, not just tosit sterile at the desk. Recommended like mad.Campbell’s words carry extraordinary weight, not only amongscholars but among a wide range of other people who findhis search down mythological pathways relevant to theirlives today. . . . The book for which he is most famous,The Hero with a Thousand Faces, [is] a brilliant examination,through ancient hero myths, of man’s eternal struggle foridentity.This is such powerful material, you might consider essentialfor helping you understand the way movies are made, and howthe contemporary world has been affected by advertising andthe loss of sacred rituals in everyday life.