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Transformations of Myth Through Time: The Soul of the Ancients
Five cassette tapes
- GenresMythologyNonfiction
Audio Cassette
First published January 1, 1990
61 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Campbell
418 books6,107 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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November 3, 2020
This is an audio series taken from a more extensive video series for which there are transcripts in book form by the same name. Apparently, there was no transfer from cassette to CD, though DVDs of the full video series is available in the name of Joseph Campbell: Mythos – The Complete Series, according to the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Finding this 5-tape boxed-set and an old SONY Walkman (remember those?) in an old pile of junk was like some kind of sign. And what a delight to hear Campbell’s voice again 33 years after we lost it.
Campbell sweeps through human origins, introductory psychology, and the ancient’s respect for life on earth as equivalent to our own rather than separate, with the mythological motifs that resulted. The step-change in human existence with agriculture and the rise of city-states, then empires bring with them a change in mythology to suit. Comparisons between Near East with the Far East and Native American myth couldn’t be more revealing. The Near East heritage of the Hebrew Old Testament emphasizes stern punishment, vengeful wrath, and human obedience. According to Campbell, Yahweh is “it,” the ultimate fact, thus to be worshipped. Whereas Fast Eastern myths point to something else, “transparent to transcendence,” he says. That is, of the mystery of being alive and having to die. The direction from Yahweh is one of purpose, to conquer the earth and subdue its animals. For the Native American’s this same world is one of meaning. A sense of belonging with all life is reflected by Chief Seattle’s 1855 speech, where “Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle. Every sandy shore. Every meadow… Perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers.” Having lost that view to conquest, it’s no wonder we’ll need three planet earths by 2050.
Campbell sweeps through human origins, introductory psychology, and the ancient’s respect for life on earth as equivalent to our own rather than separate, with the mythological motifs that resulted. The step-change in human existence with agriculture and the rise of city-states, then empires bring with them a change in mythology to suit. Comparisons between Near East with the Far East and Native American myth couldn’t be more revealing. The Near East heritage of the Hebrew Old Testament emphasizes stern punishment, vengeful wrath, and human obedience. According to Campbell, Yahweh is “it,” the ultimate fact, thus to be worshipped. Whereas Fast Eastern myths point to something else, “transparent to transcendence,” he says. That is, of the mystery of being alive and having to die. The direction from Yahweh is one of purpose, to conquer the earth and subdue its animals. For the Native American’s this same world is one of meaning. A sense of belonging with all life is reflected by Chief Seattle’s 1855 speech, where “Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle. Every sandy shore. Every meadow… Perfumed flowers are our sisters. The bear, the deer, the great eagle, these are our brothers.” Having lost that view to conquest, it’s no wonder we’ll need three planet earths by 2050.
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