Myths to Live by - (Compass) by Joseph Campbell (Paperback)

About the Book

The brilliant author of The Masks of God shares his ideas and speculations on our universal myths, in a fascinating, very personal work which explores the enduring power of the myths that influence our lives and examines the myth-making process from the primitive past to the immediate present.

Book Synopsis

"Myths, according to Freud's view, are of the psychological order of dream. Myths, so to say, are public dreams; dreams are private myths. "

"There is no one quite like Joseph Campbell. He knows the vast sweep of man's panoramic past as few men have evern known it." -The Village Voice

What is a properly functioning mythology and what are its functions? Can we use myths to help relieve our modern anxiety, or do they help foster it? In Myths to Live by, Joseph Campbell explores the enduring power of the universal myths that influence our lives daily and examines the myth-making process from the primitive past to the immediate present, retuning always to the source from which all mythology springs: the creative imagination.

Campbell stresses that the borders dividing the Earth have been shattered; that myths and religions have always followed the certain basic archetypes and are no longer exclusive to a single people, region, or religion. He shows how we must recognize their common denominators and allow this knowledge to be of use in fulfilling human potential everywhere.

Review Quotes

"There is no one quite like Joseph Campbell. He knows the vast sweep of man's panoramic past as few men have evern known it." -The Village Voice

About the Author

Joseph Campbell was interested in mythology since his childhood in New York. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Columbia in 1925 and 1927 and went on to study medieval French and Sanskrit at the universities of Paris and Munich. After a period in California, he taught at the Canterbury School, then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 1940s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. The many books by Professor Campbell include The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Myths to Live By, The Flight of the Wild Gander, and The Mythic Image. He edited The Portable Arabian Nights, The Portable Jung, and other works. He died in 1987.