The First Storytellers: Power of Myth 3

Joseph Campbell and Power of Myth #3

by Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers

Campbell discusses the importance of accepting death as rebirth as in myth of the buffalo and the story of Christ, the rite of passage in primitive societies, the role of mystical Shamans, and the decline of ritual in today's society.
Campbell: " "The ancient myths were designed to harmonize the mind and the body. The mind can ramble off in strange ways and want things that the body does not want. The myths and the rites were means of putting the mind in accord with the body and the way of life accord with the way nature dictates.""
Moyers: " "So these old stories live in us?""
Campbell: " "They do indeed. The stages of human development are the same today as they were in the ancient times. As a child, you are brought up in a world of discipline, of obedience, and you are dependent on others. All this has to be transcended when you come to maturity, so that you can live not in dependency but with self-responsible authority.""

Genres: Nonfiction, Mythology, Philosophy, Psychology, Religion, History, Audiobook

60 pages, audio cassette

Published November 1, 1992

About the author

Joseph Campbell was an American author and teacher best known for his work in the field of comparative mythology. He was born in New York City in 1904, and from early childhood he became interested in mythology. He loved to read books about American Indian cultures, and frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where he was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles.

Campbell was educated at Columbia University, where he specialized in medieval literature, and continued his studies at universities in Paris and Munich. While abroad he was influenced by the art of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, the novels of James Joyce and Thomas Mann, and the psychological studies of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. These encounters led to Campbell's theory that all myths and epics are linked in the human psyche, and that they are cultural manifestations of the universal need to explain social, cosmological, and spiritual realities. 


After a period in California, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, he taught at the Canterbury School, and then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 40s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. He also edited works by the German scholar Heinrich Zimmer on Indian art, myths, and philosophy. In 1944, with Henry Morton Robinson, Campbell published A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake. His first original work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, came out in 1949 and was immediately well received; in time, it became acclaimed as a classic. In this study of the "myth of the hero," Campbell asserted that there is a single pattern of heroic journey and that all cultures share this essential pattern in their various heroic myths. In his book he also outlined the basic conditions, stages, and results of the archetypal hero's journey.


Throughout his life, he traveled extensively and wrote prolifically, authoring many books, including the four-volume series The Masks of God, Myths to Live By, The Inner Reaches of Outer Space and The Historical Atlas of World Mythology. Joseph Campbell died in 1987. In 1988, a series of television interviews with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, introduced Campbell's views to millions of people.


Reviews

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first storytellers: myths are there to help us go with it help natures way to go with it. Myths tell me others made the passage, and that you can see the passage for the beauty it has. The aspect of the modern myth is that it has to change with the times and developments of the people or it dies out and the people die out.

[Russell Reitsema · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first foray into Joseph Campbell and his groundbreaking work on myth and storytelling. I was enthralled by the conversations between him and Bill, and was unabashedly scribbling notes at times. this should be required listening for everyone!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed all of these conversations.