The hero with a thousand faces

Book

The hero with a thousand faces / by Joseph Campbell.

Campbell, Joseph, 1904-1987 (author.).

Summary:

Joseph Campbell presents the composite hero. Apollo, the Frog King of the fairy tale, Wotan, the Buddha, and numerous other protagonists of folklore and religion, enact simultaneously the various phases of their common story. The psychological view is then compared with the words of such spiritual leaders as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao-tse, and the 'Old Men' of Australian tribes. From behind a thousand faces the single hero emerges, archetype of all myth.

Record details

ISBN: 0691017840
ISBN: 9780691017846
Physical Description: xxiii, 416 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Edition: Second edition, first Princeton/Bollingen paperback printing.
Publisher: Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1972.
Copyright: ©1949

Content descriptions

General Note:: Originally published as hbk.: 1968.
Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: Prologue: The monomyth. Myth and dream ; Tragedy and comedy ; The hero and the god ; The world navel -- Part I: the Adventure of the Hero. Departure. The call to adventure ; Refusal of the call ; Supernatural aid ; The crossing of the first threshold ; The belly of the whale -- Initiation. The road of trials ; The meeting with the goddess ; Woman as the temptress ; Atonement with the father ; Apotheosis ; The ultimate boon -- Return. Refusal of the return ; The magic flight ; Rescue from without ; The crossing of the return threshold ; Master of the two worlds ; Freedom to live -- The keys -- Part Ii: the Cosmogenic Cycle. Emanations. From psychology to metaphysics ; The universal round ; Out of the void -- space ; Within space -- life ; The breaking of the One into the manifold ; Folk stories of creation -- The virgin birth. Mother Universe ; Matrix of destiny ; Womb of redemption ; Folk stories of virgin motherhood -- Transformations of the hero. The primordial hero and the human ; Childhood of the human hero ; The hero as warrior ; The hero as lover ; The hero as emperor and as tyrant ; The hero as world redeemer ; The hero as saint ; Departure of the hero -- Dissolutions. End of the microcosm ; End of the macrocosm -- Epilogue: Myth and society. The shapeshifter ; The function of myth, cult and meditation ; The hero today.