Primitive Mythology (the Masks of God, Volume 1) - by Joseph Campbell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The first volume in Joseph Campbell's monumental four-volume The Masks of God series, originally published in 1959 and now revised with up-to-date science and new illustrations in this Collected Works of Joseph Campbell paperback edition

In this first volume of The Masks of God, the world's preeminent mythologist explores and illuminates the wellsprings of myth. Showing his exemplary combination of scholarly depth and popular enthusiasm, Joseph Campbell looks at the expressions of religious awe in early humans and their echoes in the rites of surviving primal tribes. Campbell shows how myth has informed our understanding of the world, seen and unseen, throughout time. As he explores and shares archetypal mythic images and practices, he also points to how these concepts inform our personal lives.

Upon completing The Masks of God, Campbell found that his work affirmed "the unity of the race of man, not only in its biology, but also in its spiritual history." He likened this unity to a symphony in which various parts create a "great movement." Perhaps more than ever before, Campbell's insight is not only illuminating but also inspiring.

Review Quotes

"A monument of learning, wonder, and wisdom, daringly conceived and brilliantly written."
-- Henry A. Murray, Harvard University

"[The Masks of God is] the most comprehensive and the most imaginative treatment we have of a subject that sooner or later must claim every serious reader's attention."
-- The New York Times

"One of those history-making syntheses of science and imagination, comparable in its way to The Origin of Species and The Golden Bough."
-- Lewis Gannett, New York Herald-Tribune

About the Author

Joseph Campbell is widely credited with bringing mythology to a mass audience. His works, including The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the four-volume The Masks of God, and The Power of Myth (with Bill Moyers), rank among the classics in mythology and literature.

JCF.org