Primitive Mythology

By Joseph Campbell,

Book cover of Primitive Mythology

Book description

The author of such acclaimed books as Hero With a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth discusses the primitive roots of mythology, examining them in light of the most recent discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, and psychology

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Why read it?

2 authors picked Primitive Mythology as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Outstanding treatment, if somewhat dated, of the anthropological and psychological context of myth across cultures in the ancient world.

Campbell, to me, is the dean of writers on myth. I met him once, through a professor at Hollins University who, at her graduation, had awarded Anna, my wife-to-be, the first three volumes of The Hero of a Thousand Faces, as a prize in English Literature (the fourth, Creative Mythology, was yet to be published).

After we met, I learned that Campbell had edited the Penguin Portable Jung – and it is that book that set me on a course of study and writing on myth and literature that I have pursued ever since.

As a final note,…

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