Myths to Live By [Hardcover]

Joseph Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 1972

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.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joseph Campbell was interested in mythology since his childhood in New York, when he read books about American Indians, frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History, and was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles. 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, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, 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.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; First edition. edition (April 12, 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670503592
• ISBN-13: 978-0670503599
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 20 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,241,670 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

173 of 179 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of all Joseph Campbells books, November 2, 1998

By 

Kenneth G. Ramey (Paso Robles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Myths to Live By (Paperback)

I read this book while on a cruise, and found myself spending a lot of time reading. Of all his works, this is the most down to earth. The others are too 'professorial' as if intended to impress, while this one simply lays it on the line. Psychology and mythology relate to each other very nicely, as Mr. Campbell realized when asked to share his concepts with those of a Psychologist. Jung was a favorite because of his concept of Universal Mind. Contrary to what might be thought, the book is not anti-religious, but it does explode particular Christian beliefs. Rather, it reveals the Universal meaning of 'life' which each community resolves in its own way, frequently as not, in similar ways. Boil away the variety of customs, etc.,and you have the essence of Joseph Campbell's work, and a better appreciation of man's universal mind.

142 of 146 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Womb with a view...., April 13, 2002

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Myths to Live By (Paperback)

MYTHS TO LIVE BY consists of a dozen essays/talks Joseph Campbell prepared between 1961 and 1971. He described the period as a "new age" where "..we are...participating in one of the very greatest leaps of the human spirit to a knowledge not only of outside nature but also of our own deep inward mystery."

At the time he wrote these essays, Campbell was a professor on a campus, surrounded by young people whom he found hard to understand at times. For example, in his essay "The Moon Walk--the Outward Journey" he relates his own feelings of awe on viewing the Apollo moon landing and contrasts them with the reaction of a student who wrote "So What" on a photo of the moon landing posted on a campus bulletin board. In another essay "Schizophrenia--the Inward Journey" he contrasts the use of mind-altering drugs by shamans and psychotics (including the LSD induced version) as the difference between divers and non-swimmers in "the waters of the unviersal archetypes of mythology."

I find Campbell's essays are very relevant, 30 years later. The most obvious example is "Mythologies of War and Peace" which addresses the underlying belief systems of participants in the Mideast crises. Campbell says the cruel fact is that "killing is the precondition of all living whatsoever: life lives on life, eats life, and would not otherwise exist...it is the nations, tribes, and peoples bred to mythologies of war that have survived to communicate their life-supporting mythic lore to descendents." He suggests that "we" in the West "have been bred to one of the most brutal war mythologies of all time." He then goes on to cite Deuteronomy and Isaiah and follows with excerpts from the Koran such as Sura 2, verse 216.."Fighting is prescribed for you."

Campbell does not condemn myths nor does he say myths are not literally true. He suggests creation myths and myths about love and war and peace contain the essence of the truth. Myths are to humans what kangaroo pouches are to baby kangaroos, they provide a "womb with a view." Being born simply isn't enough. We need myths to help us organize and guide our lives. However, our current myths arose in another era and were shaped by tribal mentalities that sustain the notion of GROUP differences. We need new myths for the journey of life.

78 of 81 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Campbell's Ancient Themes Live Here and Now, March 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Myths to Live By (Paperback)

Campbell selected and compiled a selection of a talks on mythology from a series of discussions that he delivered between 1958 and 1971. There is an academic quality about his style, but this will not be a barrier to most people who enjoying thinking and reflecting about what humans share in beliefs. The ancient mythic themes come alive as he weaves the observations of 20th Century everyday living with flashbacks of times ago. He storytells and teaches using 13 broad topics such as love, the beginnings of Humankind, War and Peace, schizophrenia, and the moon walk. Campbell's text reads as if he is in your home; quite possibly having a glass of wine; discussing love relationships in the theater of Life; balancing the ideas of such people as St. Paul, Shaw, Sarte, Persian poets, Buddha, and Lord Krishna. He is at his strongest in his chapters on journeys: inward and outward. A word of caution: Your mind's ear will be listening to a Master Teacher. If you liked Bill Moyer's interview with Campbell, you will appreciate Campbell's theme choices and style. His art of making sense of human potential and challenging its boundaries is a stimulating reflective exercise.