The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Despite their infinite variety of incident, setting, and costume, the myths of the world offer only a limited number of responses to the riddle of life.

In this fascinating and influential book, Joseph Campbell presents the composite hero. Apollo, the Frog King of the fairy tale, Wotan, the Buddha, and numerous other protagonists of folklore and religion enact simultaneously the various phases of their common story.

The relationship of their timeless symbols to those discovered in dream by contemporary depth psychology is taken as a starting point for interpretation. The psychological view is then compared with the words of such spiritual leaders as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Lao-tse, and the 'Old Man' of the Australian tribes. From behind a thousand faces the single hero looks out, archetype of all human myth.