The Hero with a Thousand Faces
October 1, 2017 - December 20, 2018
We discuss Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Princeton University Press; 2nd edition; (March 1, 1972). ISBN-10: 0691017840. ISBN-13: 978-0691017846. (Paperback).
The book uncovers some of the truths disguised under figures of religion and mythology. Campbell explores Apollo, the Frog King of the fairy tale, Wotan, the Buddha, and others, and the relationship of their timeless symbols to those rediscovered in dream by depth psychology. He compares the psychological view with the words of such spiritual leaders as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao-tse, and the “Old Men” of the Australian tribes. From behind a thousand faces, the single hero emerges, archetype of all myth, and, through him, a statement of the basic truths by which man has lived throughout the millennia. (Joseph Campbell and Princeton University Press)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface to the 1949 Edition
PROLOGUE: The Monomyth
1. Myth and Dream
2. Tragedy and Comedy
3. The Hero and the God
4. The World Navel
PART ONE: THE ADVENTURE OF THE HERO
CHAPTER I: Departure
1. The Call to Adventure
2. Refusal of the Call
3. Supernatural Aid
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
5. The Belly of the Whale
CHAPTER II: Initiation
1. The Road of Trials
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
3. Woman as the Temptress
4. Atonement with the Father
5. Apotheosis
6. The Ultimate Boon
CHAPTER III: Return
1. Refusal of the Return
2. The Magic Flight
3. Rescue from Without
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
5. Master of the Two Worlds
6. Freedom to Live
CHAPTER IV: The Keys
PART TWO: THE COSMOGONIC CYCLE
CHAPTER I: Emanations
1. From Psychology to Metaphysics
2. The Universal Round
3. Out of the Void-Space
4. Within Space-Life
5. The Breaking of the One into the Manifold
6. Folk Stories of Creation
CHAPTER II: The Virgin Birth
1. Mother Universe
2. Matrix of Destiny
3. Womb of Redemption
4. Folk Stories of Virgin Motherhood
CHAPTER III: Transformations of the Hero
1. The Primordial Hero and the Human
2. Childhood of the Human Hero
3. The Hero as Warrior
4. The Hero as Lover
5. The Hero as Emperor and as Tyrant
6. The Hero as World Redeemer
7. The Hero as Saint
8. Departure of the Hero
CHAPTER IV: Dissolutions
1. End of the Microcosm
2. End of the Macrocosm
EPILOGUE: Myth and Society
1. The Shapeshifter
2. The Function of Myth, Cult, and Meditation
3. The Hero Today
