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A review by imrogers
The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
4.0
After years of hearing about the hero monomyth in every conceivable context, I decided to read the original Joseph Campbell for myself. For 70+ year-old scholarship, it holds up astoundingly well and reads fairly easily. Besides the actual hero's journey, the epilogue covers the hero's place in modern society, an issue that feels even more relevant in the Marvel age.
My main beef with actually reading this book is that Campbell's stringing together hundreds of myths makes for erratic prose, as he devotes large portions of each section to relating world myths that quickly run together and become overwhelming. Better transitions, not to mention a few summaries, would have created a FAR easier path for readers. Also, while the Freudean interpretation of dreams is interesting from a historical perspective, it does make parts of the book feel like an academic time capsule.
My main beef with actually reading this book is that Campbell's stringing together hundreds of myths makes for erratic prose, as he devotes large portions of each section to relating world myths that quickly run together and become overwhelming. Better transitions, not to mention a few summaries, would have created a FAR easier path for readers. Also, while the Freudean interpretation of dreams is interesting from a historical perspective, it does make parts of the book feel like an academic time capsule.