Joseph Campbell | |
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Born | Joseph John Campbell March 26, 1904 White Plains, New York, U.S. |
Died | October 30, 1987 Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. | (aged 83)
Spouse | |
Academic background | |
Education | Dartmouth College Columbia University (BA, MA) |
Academic advisors | Roger Sherman Loomis[1] |
Influences | |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Literature |
Sub-discipline | Comparative mythology |
Institutions | Sarah Lawrence College |
Notable works | The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) |
Notable ideas | Monomyth |
Influenced |
Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the human experience. Campbell's best-known work is his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), in which he discusses his theory of the journey of the archetypal hero shared by world mythologies, termed the monomyth.
Since the publication of The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell's theories have been applied by a wide variety of modern writers and artists. His philosophy has been summarized by his own often repeated phrase: "Follow your bliss."[6] He gained recognition in Hollywood when George Lucas credited Campbell's work as influencing his Star Wars saga.[7]
Campbell's approach to folklore topics such as myth and his influence on popular culture has been the subject of criticism, especially from academic folklorists.[8][9][10]