The Hero With a Thousand Faces

by Joseph Campbell

Hardcover

English language

Published July 9, 1997 by Mjf Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-56731-120-4
OCLC Number:: 36735520

(7 reviews)

The Hero with a Thousand Faces (first published in 1949) is a work of comparative mythology by Joseph Campbell, in which the author discusses his theory of the mythological structure of the journey of the archetypal hero found in world myths. Since the publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell's theory has been consciously applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. Filmmaker George Lucas acknowledged Campbell's theory in mythology, and its influence on the Star Wars films.The Joseph Campbell Foundation and New World Library issued a new edition of The Hero with a Thousand Faces in July 2008 as part of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell series of books, audio and video recordings. In 2011, Time placed the book in its list of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since the magazine was founded in 1923.

12 editions

Fulminata reviewed The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell

Review of 'The Hero with a Thousand Faces' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I'd heard of this book for years, going back to its associations with George Lucas and Star Wars, but never got around to reading it before now. It's an interesting book at times, and definitely has some valuable things to say on the nature of mythology.

Where it falls down is when it attempts to combine "modern" psychology, psychoanalysis, and dream interpretation to mythology. If these sections had been excised the overall work would have been much improved.

I'm glad I read it. The references to various myths from around the world were interesting enough even without the accompanying analysis.