Itemize Based On Books The Masks of God, Volume 3: Occidental Mythology (The Masks of God #3)
| Title | : | The Masks of God, Volume 3: Occidental Mythology (The Masks of God #3) |
| Author | : | Joseph Campbell |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 576 pages |
| Published | : | November 1st 1991 by Penguin (first published 1964) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Mythology. Nonfiction. Religion. History. Philosophy |
Joseph Campbell
Paperback | Pages: 576 pages Rating: 4.32 | 1615 Users | 62 Reviews
Narration To Books The Masks of God, Volume 3: Occidental Mythology (The Masks of God #3)
This third volume of Campbell's expanded mythological examination starts out with a good grounding in Sumerian, Babylonian, and other Near East influences and pulls the themes effortlessly forward through Greek and Roman and all the way into the Christain. If that isn't enough, we also get a huge amount of exploration in the Jewish, Egyptian, Zoroastrian, and Muslim traditions.We get a very thorough if not utterly exhaustive look into all of these. I enjoyed the rather obvious and fascinating connections between all of these. All these mythos travel, reincarnate and evolve.
While this may be rather obvious to the rest of us now, let's put this all in perspective: it's 1964.
Campbell is rocking the world to a very thorough Jungian analysis of all the world's mythologies and religions, breaking them all down to their fundamental archetypes and underlying similarities.
And he's DESTROYING EVERYONE'S RELIGIOUS TOYS.
And he's doing it with ruthless logic, impeccable research, and encyclopedic knowledge of all traditions. :)
Cool. Right?
Campbell ushered in a brand new world. :)
List Books As The Masks of God, Volume 3: Occidental Mythology (The Masks of God #3)
| Original Title: | Occidental Mythology |
| ISBN: | 014019441X (ISBN13: 9780140194418) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The Masks of God #3 |
Rating Based On Books The Masks of God, Volume 3: Occidental Mythology (The Masks of God #3)
Ratings: 4.32 From 1615 Users | 62 ReviewsComment On Based On Books The Masks of God, Volume 3: Occidental Mythology (The Masks of God #3)
. . . how amazingly current it reads -- the clash of religions, politics, etc., that is still happening today.This is a good read in understanding Western thought and Eastern thought, and on the fusing of the two in certain sects of both. Very interesting. --From A Reader's Journal, by d r melbie.
Campbell uncovers the roots of Occidental religions by discussing the artifacts and myths of the Levant, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The common themes of the snake, the goddess, the intertwined snakes (caduceus) demonstrate the possible common influences of the subsequent traditions in these area.
The seminal work of Frazier was The Golden Bough and thus the weaving of myths...with reoccuring themes thru the history of man and memorialized in archeaology,and religions ..became apparent to me as a reader and so I was delighted to come across Campbell. Joseph Campbell's books of which I have read four, continues and amplifies this insight..with a multiplicity of examples of the weaving and reweaving of threads and elements, the different depictions of "the hero", the different presentations
Really very good. Very complete, covers each oriental group in detail. I was confused by the inclusion of Egypt and Mesapotamia (I don't think of either as Oriental per se) but, it was a coherant piece that had strong overarching themes. Very highly reccomended.
I have a soft spot for Joseph Campbell. He's like a kindly old uncle, whose wonderful stories sparked in me a life long passion for mythology. It doesn't matter that now that I've grown up and delved more deeply into the field I've come to realize that much of what he had to say about myth turned out to be hogwash. He's still Uncle Joe and I love him.This book has literally been sitting, unread, on my shelf for decades. I bought it in high school and kept thinking "someday I'll get around to
Joseph Campbell's work is fun to read, but it's not actually good scholarship. His tendency to make sweeping generalizations is a weakness, and close examination of the details in the myths he discusses make a lot of his arguments fall apart.This said, the guy wasn't a poseur; he had genuine credentials in both medieval French and Sanskrit. It's not that he's imagining things that aren't in the text, or relying on others to do grunt work in translation that he isn't personally capable of doing.
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