Okeydokey. It must be a book recommendation day today.

Last year I wrote a little sentence about the Hero’s Journey being fitted from the outside in. I still sort of agree with that but, having learned a few new things, I’ve realised that out or in or upside down, The Hero’s Journey is as old as time. It IS a template/blueprint of the human condition.

Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces has been part of my own life for a long time.

From Amazon :

Since its release in 1949, The Hero with a Thousand Faces has influenced millions of readers by combining the insights of modern psychology with Joseph Campbell’s revolutionary understanding of comparative mythology. In these pages, Campbell outlines the Hero’s Journey, a universal motif of adventure and transformation that runs through virtually all of the world’s mythic traditions. He also explores the Cosmogonic Cycle, the mythic pattern of world creation and destruction.

As part of the Joseph Campbell Foundation’s Collected Works of Joseph Campbell, this third edition features expanded illustrations, a comprehensive bibliography, and more accessible sidebars.

As relevant today as when it was first published, The Hero with a Thousand Faces continues to find new audiences in fields ranging from religion and anthropology to literature and film studies. The book has also profoundly influenced creative artists—including authors, songwriters, game designers, and filmmakers—and continues to inspire all those interested in the inherent human need to tell stories.

 

Every story, film, novel, TV programme, Life Well-Lived and on and on….is THE Hero’s Journey.

For example – George Lucas knew this formula inside out and used it to Brilliant effect with Star Wars and Indiana Jones et al.

Joseph Campbell is a recommended read :o)