Scan barcode
zeh's review against another edition
4.0
Incredible summary of archetypes in myth and how they relate to each other. Eye opening and sometimes even funny.
thecrookedspine's review against another edition
5.0
This book is full of a frequently startling intelligence, passionate engagement with the topic, and a delightfully broad overview of the mythologies of a wide variety of cultures. While it could be said to be true that the masculine human experience is emphasized, on another level the points in this book feel beyond gendering and engaged with the deeper common core of the human experience. This book works exceptionally well alongside certain others, such as Man & His Symbols and Women Who Run With the Wolves. I highly recommend and will personally be reading other works by Campbell off the strength of this book.
smithmick14's review against another edition
Campbell gave me an important stepping stone with this book on my never-ending quest to understand how to build mythology. This ended up being much less about the hero journey than I expected and more of a layman's understanding of Jung, which ultimately I think is a more valuable lens into the literary and psychological past.
mipsot's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent book for any interested in the ongoing role of myth in human history. Campbell makes a compelling argument for the ‘monomyth’ and notes the similarities of the Hero’s Journey within a wide range of world cultures. He discusses why, to this day, our stories tend to repeat and echo much older myths. Very intriguing and a book I’ll be reading again, no doubt.
gabrielrobartes's review against another edition
3.0
I'm unimpressed by the whole, though I enjoyed many of the parts. It ends on a surprisingly pessimistic note. I find it odd that this book, which was written in 1949 using sources that were frequently 50 years old and revised for a second edition in 1968 with no substantial updates, seems to exist in a continuum where no anthropological responses to myth and culture ever took place outside of Joseph Campbell. I can see the attraction to pagans who sometimes have a bad habit reading (or writing) to confirm rather than to question or explore. It's a literary achievement and taken on those terms, still has much to appreciate. I wonder what Freud would have made of Campbell? To be fair, it's an early work and the Masks of God is far more integrative of work from a huge range of disciplines...
mtnmama's review against another edition
3.0
I only got about halfway through, but I was only looking to understand the general concept of the hero's journey.
rozemarijn_'s review against another edition
2.0
2,5*
Moeilijk om hier een recensie over te schrijven. Vond de hoofdgedachte megainteressant (dat de narratieve structuren van mythologische verhalen van over de hele wereld sterk overeen komen), maar wat heeft Campbell dat moeilijk opgeschreven! Hij raakte me regelmatig kwijt met alle toespelingen op dromen, Freud en de vele quotes uit verhalen (in een soort middeleeuws Engels) tussendoor. Ik miste de structuur in zijn eigen verhaal.
Moeilijk om hier een recensie over te schrijven. Vond de hoofdgedachte megainteressant (dat de narratieve structuren van mythologische verhalen van over de hele wereld sterk overeen komen), maar wat heeft Campbell dat moeilijk opgeschreven! Hij raakte me regelmatig kwijt met alle toespelingen op dromen, Freud en de vele quotes uit verhalen (in een soort middeleeuws Engels) tussendoor. Ik miste de structuur in zijn eigen verhaal.