Joseph Campbell: biography and a hero’s journey

Joseph Campbell is an American thinker, writer, anthropologist and professor. known for his studies on the universe of mythology. His work has been considered of great importance in his field, but also in other areas such as psychiatry. He was a contemporary of other great thinkers and influential figures of the 20th century, such as Jiddu Krishnamurti and James Joyce, hence he was influenced by various philosophical and thought currents.

Campbell devoted his life and work to comparative mythology. His most relevant work is The hero with a thousand faces, although he wrote a multitude of works that, to this day, are still considered required reading for anthropologists and therapists. In fact, his work has inspired many professionals in various fields, from psychology to the world of cinema.

Next We will take a tour of the exciting journey of this great hero who has managed to transcend generations. Let’s dig deeper.

His life

He was born in New York in 1904. Young Campbell went with his father to the American Museum of Natural History, where began his interest in everything related to the culture of the Native American Indians. A few years later, he became an expert in this area and, especially, in the mythology of that culture.

Joseph Campbell graduated in English Literature from Columbia University in 1925., where he also completed a Master’s Degree in Medieval Literature in 1927. During the time he remained at this University he made two important trips to Mexico and Guatemala. Later, He traveled to Europe and met the philosopher and writer Jiddu Krishnamurti. As a result of this meeting, he traveled to India and became interested in Eastern philosophies, especially Buddhism.

In Europe he continued his education and he specialized in the Arthurian cycle, a set of literary texts that have as their origin some historical events along with elements of Celtic folklore. On the other hand, he studied Indo-European philology at the University of Munich and received a scholarship to study Old French, Provençal and Sanskrit. Furthermore, during the years that he was outside the United States he learned French, German and Japanese, languages ​​that he remained fluent throughout his life.

His work

His first book, the man of the thousand faces, appeared in 1949. It is a work that details what he called the hero’s journey and in which the concept of the monomyth or hero’s journey appeared for the first time. This tries to explain that The life of each hero consists of embarking on a journey, which forces him to face a series of psychological tests that must be overcome in order to evolve as a human being. And, furthermore, the wisdom acquired must be shared with the rest of the world upon returning home.

A curious fact that never ceases to surprise is that Joseph Campbell verified that This myth is repeated in all cultures and mythologies in the world, regardless of their religion or geographical influence. In fact, he demonstrated that there is a path to carry out the necessary transformations in the human being and that this path is also universal.

Campbell worked with Swami Nikhilananda on the translation of The Upanishads, a set of Hindu sacred books, and their subsequent edition. He was also interested in the work of the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and his first work was followed by many others as important as that.

Among his best-known works we find The masks of God, The image of the myth and The Hero’s Journey. Campbell’s literary legacy around mythology, spirituality and religion is enormous. In 1985 filming began The Power of the Myth with George Lucas. The film director was a scholar and follower of the work of Joseph Campbell and it was through reading him that the saga of the popular saga of Star Wars.

The influences

Campbell was deeply influenced by works such as The Upanishads and authors such as Otto Rank, James Frazer, Abraham Maslow and Stanislav Grof. He was also influenced by the Jungian method of dream interpretation, closely related to the theory of myth that he developed.

In his works we can see frequent references to writers such as James Joyce and Thomas Mannin addition to being attracted by the work of Pablo Picasso, Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.

Joseph Campbell died on October 30, 1987 in Honolulu. He left behind an immense and valuable legacy in the field of comparative mythology.. He knew how to combine enormous knowledge about history, literature, anthropology and religion that is still of special interest in the academic world today. Campbell was a hero worth remembering.

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