Joseph Campbell

The first collection of Joseph Campbell's writings and lectures on the Arthurian romances of the Middle Ages, a central focus of his celebrated scholarship, now in paperback Throughout his life, Joseph Campbell was deeply engaged in the study of the Grail Quests and Arthurian legends of the European Middle Ages. In this new paperback volume of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, editor Evans Lansing Smith collects Campbell's writings and lectures on Arthurian legends, including his never-before-published master's thesis on Arthurian myth, "A Study of the Dolorous Stroke." Campbell's writing captures the incredible stories of such figures as Merlin, Gawain, and Guinevere as well as the larger patterns and meanings revealed in these myths. Merlin's death and Arthur receiving Excalibur from the Lady of the Lake, for example, are not just vibrant stories but also central to the mythologist's thinking. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian romances the world's first "secular mythology," Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. The myths exemplify the kind of love Campbell called amor, in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell's infectious delight in his discoveries makes this volume essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell--and the stories behind them.

Enjoy seven never-before-collected stories from the master of myth and story himself Before he was the engaging professor who brought mythology into people's living rooms through his conversations with Bill Moyers, before he became known as the thinker whose ideas influenced Star Wars, and before his now-beloved phrase "follow your bliss" entered the popular lexicon, Joseph Campbell was a young man who tried his hand at writing fiction. At the age of twenty-nine, after years of Depression-era unemployment, when he lived off money he had earned playing saxophone in a jazz combo and read the world's great literature in a syllabus of his own design, Campbell published his first short story. That tale, included in this collection, remained the famed mythologist's only published piece of fiction, until now. In these stories, readers will find rich mythological symbolism, down-to-earth concerns with the ravages of the Second World War, and singular iterations of Campbell's famous Hero's Journey schema -- all interwoven into a literary style that anticipates the genre that would years later come to be known as "magical realism." Compelling in their own right, these seven stories are essential reading for longtime Campbell fans and the many who continue to discover him afresh.

The third volume in Campbell's monumental four-volume series, The Masks of God, traces the mythological underpinnings of Western religions: the shift from female-centered to male-dominated mythologies Once upon a time in the West, the focal figure of all mythology and worship was the bountiful goddess Earth. She reigned supreme as the mother and nourisher of life and as the receiver of the dead for rebirth. As Joseph Campbell here elucidates, she was more than a symbol of fertility; she was "a metaphysical symbol: the arch personification of the power of Space, Time, and Matter, within whose bound all beings arise and die." How, when, and why did this change? Campbell shows how "the mythologies of the goddess mother were radically transformed, reinterpreted, and in large measure even suppressed by those suddenly intrusive patriarchal warrior tribesmen whose traditions have come down to us chiefly in the Old and New Testaments and in the myths of Greece." He goes on to describe the mythological underpinnings of Western religions -- Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism -- and their historical influence on one another. No one who cares about history, mythology, religion, or past or current events in Western civilization can do without this venerable yet perennially fresh analysis.

It has perhaps never been more important than it is today to understand the world around us and the world's religions. It is now well understood that health, climate, and economic issues are truly global. On completing The Masks of God, Campbell wrote, "Its main result for me has been the confirmation of a thought I have long and faithfully entertained: of the unity of man, not only in its biology, but also in its spiritual history, which has everywhere unfolded in the manner of a single symphony . . . irresistibly advancing to some kind of mighty climax, out of which the next great movement will emerge." Upon the publication of this volume, in which Campbell delves into the fables and folklore of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Shintoism, Professor Robert Gorham Davis of Columbia University wrote, "It is impossible to read this startling and entertaining book without an enlarged sense of total human possibility." Oriental Mythology remains mesmerizing in its eloquence, its scope, and its tantalizing vision of what may next emerge.

Proving that there is still more to learn from Joseph Campbell, this volume shares his personal letters vibrantly curated in a way that highlights not only Campbell's mastery of fields as diverse as anthropology, literature, depth psychology, religious studies, and of course comparative mythology but also his "hands-on" approach to experiencing, rather than simply studying, subjects such as Kundalini Yoga and Buddhism. The editors arrange Campbell's personal writings to friends, colleagues, and fellow thinkers in a way that illuminates an intellectual point in time that continues to resonate in contemporary culture. Anyone who has ever been counseled to "follow your bliss," knows Campbell and will benefit from learning more about his thinking here.

Reproduction of the original: Mearing Stones by Joseph Campbell

Reproduction of the original: Mearing Stones by Joseph Campbell

In The Flight of the Wild Gander, renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell explores the individual and geographical origins of myth, outlining the full range of mythology from Grimm's fairy tales to Native American legends. Originally published in 1969, this first collection of Campbell's essays describes the symbolic content of stories: how they are linked to human experience and how they--along with our experiences--have changed over time. Throughout, Campbell explores the function of mythology in everyday life and the forms it may take in the future. Included are two of Campbell's first groundbreaking essays: "Bios and Mythos" and "Primitive Man As Metaphysician," both of which examine the biological basis and necessity for story and mythology, and establish mythology as a basic function or fact of human nature. Campbell explores how the myth was born, as well as the personal experiences of the visionary medicine man through whose memory the myth was preserved.

Excerpt from Mearing Stones: Leaves From My Note-Book on Tramp in Donegal The general light and darkstars, the earth smells, the bat that came out of the shadow of a fuchsia-bush and fluttered across a white streak in the sky beyond. And I have tried Wordsworth's sonnet beginning, The world is too much with us, by a criterion no less than that of the Atlantic itself, tumbling in foam on the foreshore of Maghery when daylight was deepening into twilight, and the moon was low over the hills, touching the rock-pools and the sand-pools with flakes of carmine light. When I said the sonnet aloud to myself it seemed to rise out of the landscape and to incorporate itself with it again. As my voice rose and fell in the wandering cadences of the verse. Nature, after all, is the final touchstone of art. Tried by it, the counterfeit fails and the unmixed gold is justified. It's a strange world, said a tramp to me to-day. I agreed. And would you answer me this, gaffer? Said he. Why is it when a man's soul is in his body, and he lusty and well, you think nothing of kicking him about as you would an old cast shoe And the minute the soul goes, and the body is stiffening in death, you draw back from him, hardly daring to touch him for the dread that is on you. Would you answer me that, gaffer I was silent. It's a strange world, sure enough, said the tramp. He rose from the gripe where he lay making rings in the grass with his stick. Good-day, gaffer, said he. God speed your journey. And he took the road, laughing. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In these pages, the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell presents twelve eclectic, far-ranging, and brilliant essays gathered together for the first time. The essays explore myth in all its dimensions: its history; its influence on art, literature, and culture; and its role in everyday life. This second volume of Campbell's essays (following The Flight of the Wild Gander) brings together his uncollected writings from 1959 to 1987. Written at the height of Campbell's career--and showcasing the lively intelligence that made him the twentieth century's premier writer on mythology--these essays investigate the profound links between myth, the individual, and societies ancient and contemporary. Covering diverse terrain ranging from psychology to the occult, from Thomas Mann to the Grateful Dead, from Goddess spirituality to Freud and Jung, these playful and erudite writings reveal the threads of myth woven deeply into the fabric of our culture and our lives.

Joseph Campbell made the power of story undeniable through the power of his own storytelling. Editor Evans Lansing Smith here collects Campbell writings on Arthurian legends that make events like Merlin's death and the Lady of the Lake retrieving Excalibur not just vibrant but also central to the mythologist's thinking. Three cornerstones of Campbell's celebrated scholarship are found here. The Arthurian myths opened the world of comparative mythology to Campbell, turning his attention to the Near and Far Eastern roots of myth. Calling the Arthurian myths the world's first "secular mythology," Campbell found metaphors in them for human stages of growth, development, and psychology. Finally, the myths exemplify a kind of love Campbell called Amor in which individuals become more fully themselves through connection. Campbell's infectious delight in his discoveries makes them essential for anyone intrigued by the stories we tell -- and the stories behind them.

Myths make it possible to reveal realities inexpressible in philosophical abstractions--realities too profound for logical discourse. Joseph Campbell explores how myths that drove pre-scientific societies remain relevant today. Of course, ancient myths explained the cosmos and the origins of man through metaphors that have been replaced by science, but the unifying role of myth remains crucial and unknown in all societies. The author demonstrates how, across time and space, myth and religion have retained a strikingly similar set of archetypes.

Joseph Campbell, arguably the greatest mythologist of the twentieth century, was certainly one of our greatest storytellers. This masterfully crafted book interweaves conversations between Campbell and some of the people he inspired, including poet Robert Bly, anthropologist Angeles Arrien, filmmaker David Kennard, Doors drummer John Densmore, psychiatric pioneer Stanislov Grof, Nobel laureate Roger Guillemen, and others. Campbell reflects on subjects ranging from the origins and functions of myth, the role of the artist, and the need for ritual to the ordeals of love and romance. With poetry and humor, Campbell recounts his own quest and conveys the excitement of his lifelong exploration of our mythic traditions, what he called the one great story of mankind. "

Joseph Campbell brought mythology to a mass audience. His bestselling books, including The Power of Myth and The Hero with a Thousand Faces, are the rare blockbusters that are also scholarly classics. While Campbell s work reached wide and deep as he covered the world s great mythological traditions, he never wrote a book on goddesses in world mythology. He did, however, have much to say on the subject. Between 1972 and 1986 he gave over twenty lectures and workshops on goddesses, exploring the figures, functions, symbols, and themes of the feminine divine, following them through their transformations across cultures and epochs. In this provocative volume, editor Safron Rossia goddess studies scholar, professor of mythology, and curator of collections at Opus Archives, which holds the Joseph Campbell archival manuscript collection and personal librarycollects these lectures for the first time. In them, Campbell traces the evolution of the feminine divine from one Great Goddess to many, from Neolithic Old Europe to the Renaissance. He sheds new light on classical motifs and reveals how the feminine divine symbolizes the archetypal energies of transformation, initiation, and inspiration."