Customer Reviews

Wings of Art: Joseph Campbell on James Joyce

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Joseph Campbell coauthored 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.

These tapes are a great buy for anyone interested in Joyce.

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 billiant 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.

For those interested in Joyce's work and the timeless themes of mythology this set of 6 tapes will surely be of interest. I do not understand how sellers could possibly be asking Four Hundred to Six Hundred Dollars ($!) as they seem to be doing. For the truly interested: There is a Joseph Campbell book available, Mythic Worlds - Modern Words, which features all this lecture material as well as some additional information not found on the tapes.

Great set of tapes from a lecture given by Campbell on Joyce. Also available as video tape set at many college libraries. The book "Mythic Worlds, Mystic Words, Joseph Campbell on James Joyce" contains much of the lecture and more. Great in all formats !

Joseph Campbell's literary and mythological passion for Joyce's Triology is informative and infectious! Campbell reading from Joyce in his New York accent is worth hearing in and of itself. Wings of Art is just a delight.