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Wings of Art: Joseph Campbell on James Joyce
In this six-part series, renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell introduces and explores the unifying themes and mythological symbolism in James Joyce's three greatest literary works--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegan's Wake--arguing that these three major works were the precursors to a fourth, even greater novel that Joyce never got to write.
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First published March 1, 1995
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About the author
Joseph Campbell
434 books6,322 followersJoseph 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 15, 2015
Read by Joseph Campbell, music by Stanilas SyrewiczHigh Bridge Company, 1995, ISBN 1565111133; Six Compact Discs, Out of Print
Description: Joseph Campbell co-authored the classic Finnegans Wake reference A Skeleton Key to Finnegans Wake: Unlocking James Joyce's Masterwork, and in these six tapes of an informal lecture to a small audience he presents another tour de force encompassing his analysis of Portrait, Ulysses, and Wake.
He delivers Joyce's theory of art (alone worth the price of the tapes), relates the texts' themes to mythology and philosophy, and generally provides a wonderful sense of James Joyce as a brilliant man of sorrows acquainted with grief, who labored mightily to bring forth the Big Three. Perhaps even on a level with Stuart Gilbert's James Joyce's Ulysses.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Skelet...
Lecture 1: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Pt1
Lecture 2: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Pt2
Ulysses
Ulysses
Ulysses
Finnegan's Wake
A generous preview of part of this work is available online: http://books.google.ca/books?id=31UBh...
January 7, 2016
I happily digested this series of lectures and felt quite edified. It really makes Joyce's work more accessible and enjoyable. I listened nearly 20 years ago and his words stay with me.
I soon realized that on the first day of graduate school, every student is informed that Joseph Campbell's ideas are the opposite of good. One's opinion of Joseph Campbell is used as a shibboleth to identify one's self as either a pedestrian consumer of the PBS brand of popular culture or a more rarified intellectual who reads and writes for other intellectuals. There are all kinds of valid criticisms a PhD in literature could level at Joseph Campbell. I've read a bunch and they make sense to me, but the summary rejection of Joseph Campbell in these circles is due to one thing: Terror. If you get a PhD in the humanities, you cannot afford to hold unpopular opinions. The imbalance between those with degrees and available positions allows a small elite to enforce opinion in that community. If an undergraduate degree in liberal arts is "getting a list of books one should read someday", then an advanced degree is receiving a series of opinions one must hold to be accepted.
I soon realized that on the first day of graduate school, every student is informed that Joseph Campbell's ideas are the opposite of good. One's opinion of Joseph Campbell is used as a shibboleth to identify one's self as either a pedestrian consumer of the PBS brand of popular culture or a more rarified intellectual who reads and writes for other intellectuals. There are all kinds of valid criticisms a PhD in literature could level at Joseph Campbell. I've read a bunch and they make sense to me, but the summary rejection of Joseph Campbell in these circles is due to one thing: Terror. If you get a PhD in the humanities, you cannot afford to hold unpopular opinions. The imbalance between those with degrees and available positions allows a small elite to enforce opinion in that community. If an undergraduate degree in liberal arts is "getting a list of books one should read someday", then an advanced degree is receiving a series of opinions one must hold to be accepted.
March 1, 2017
Interesting take on Ulysses, but Campbell twists Joyce's words around to fit his myth agenda. Joyce is such an ambiguous writer that it's easy to read just about anything into his books.
December 17, 2022
Campbell is a pleasure to listen to, as always. I think I may settle for vicarious enjoyment of Joyce through him.
April 27, 2026
Without this lecture, I would not have liked Ulysses
January 23, 2024
Only Campbell could make Joyce seem so accessible, and he was eminently qualified since he spent a good portion of his life studying Joyce. The first 5 minutes are a brilliant summary and distillation of a writer who is broader and more universal in his scope than anyone since Shakespeare. The only slight downside is the occasional throat-clearing and other noises that are part of a live recording, but it's a minor distraction. Five tapes might seem long when you start, but you'll wish it was longer when you're done.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews