Joseph Campbell: Works
A guide to his voluminous writings

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I have divided Campbell's work into arbitrary categories, going from what I find the most accessible to the most difficult.   Many will disagree, finding the rich world portrayed in the "Magna Opera" to be more engaging than the interviews, lectures,  and essays.  So be it.  Any way that you can, delve into these works!

A link on a title itself leads you to a page I have created about that work; the Amazon link takes you to the page about that work at Amazon.com.  Remember, you don't have to buy (but if you do, Realize! will get a percentage of the sale). However, the Amazon pages are also a great way to learn more about a book, read the Publishers' statements and reader reviews, and perhaps even take "A Look Inside."

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Getting to Know Uncle Joe

The following works are in "popular" formats, and cover a wide range of Campbell's ideas.

• Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (book) (video) with Bill Moyers (1988)
  (Amazon: book illustrated edition DVD VHS audio cassettes audio CDs)

  • This is the series that brought Campbell far greater fame than he ever would have anticipated.  What's more, it's a mature summarizing of a lifetime's work, in a Q & A format that's easy to read.  Spend the extra money for the illustrated edition if you can. Better yet, buy one of the video versions to gain the full, intended effect.  And I listen to the audio regularly, again and again, just to keep finding new pearls.

• An Open Life: Joseph Campbell in Conversation with Michael Toms (1989) (Amazon)

  • This 130+ page book, by its very brevity, is in some ways a better introduction to Campbell's work than the Moyers interviews. Much of the same territory is covered, but it's less intimidating for the uncommitted reader.

• Mythos (1995?)(Currently out of print; see note)

  • More academic--and more fulfilling--than the Moyers videos, this series presents a 10-hour series of lectures that Uncle Joe felt epitomized his years of teaching.

• A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living (1991) edited by Diane Osbon (Amazon)

  • More of an "experience" than a book.  Ms Osbon has compiled quotes from Campbell into more of an impression than an exposition. Nevertheless, for those who find other formats tedious, this poetic rendering of "Uncle Joe's" ideas might be just the thing.

• The Way of Myth: Talking with Joseph Campbell (1994) (Fraser Boa) (Amazon)

  • This very small book covers much of the same material as the two interviews above.  Makes a nice stocking-stuffer.

Part of "The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell," after Campbell's death these books were edited  from his taped lectures to "popular" audiences.  As such, they make for easy reading, lacking the academic tone of some of his written works.  Many were drawn from the six volumes of the "Joseph Campbell Audio Collection."

• Mythic Worlds, Modern Words: On the Art of James Joyce (2004) (Amazon)

• Myths of Light: Eastern Metaphors of the Eternal (2003) (Amazon)

• Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation (2004) (Amazon)

• Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor (2001) (Amazon)

• The Joseph Campbell Audio Collection (1996) (Amazon Vol. 1.Vol. 2.Vol. 3.Vol. 4.Vol. 5.Vol. 6)

These books, published during Campbell's lifetime, are (with the exception of the Skeleton Key) collections of essays, some of which he wrote based on lectures given.

• The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the Mythological Dimension (1969) (Amazon)

• The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion (1986) (Amazon)

• The Mythic Dimension: Selected Essays 1959-1987 (1997) (Amazon)

• Myths to Live By (1972) (Amazon)

• A Skeleton Key to Finnegan's Wake written with Henry Morton Robinson (1944, 2005) (Amazon)

• Transformations of Myth through Time (1990) (Amazon)

Biographical

Two biographical works; and two volumes of Campbell's journals, covering his one-year sojourn in Asia.

• A Fire in the Mind: The Life of Joseph Campbell (1991) (Amazon) by Stephen and Robin Larsen

• The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work (1990) edited by Phil Cousineau  (Amazon)

• Baksheesh & Brahman: Asian Journals, India (2002) (Amazon)

• Sake & Satori: Asian Journals, Japan (2002) (Amazon)

• The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) (Amazon)

• Historical Atlas of World Mythology

  • Volume 1: The Way of the Animal Powers (1983)

    • Part 1 : Mythologies of the Primitive Hunters and Gatherers (Out of print)

    • Part 2: Mythologies of the Great Hunt (Out of print)

  • Volume 2: The Way of the Seeded Earth (1988)

    • Part 1: The Sacrifice (Out of print)

    • Part 2 : Mythologies of the Primitive Planters: The Northern Americas (Out of print)

    • Part 3: Mythologies of the Primitive Planters: The Middle and Southern Americas (Out of print)

• The Masks of God

  • Volume 1: Primitive Mythology (1959) (Amazon)

  • Volume 2 Oriental Mythology (1962) (Amazon)

  • Volume 3 Occidental Mythology (1964) (Amazon)

  • Volume 4 Creative Mythology (1968) (Amazon)

• The Mythic Image (1974) (Amazon)

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Edited By Joseph Campbell

The (Posthumous) Works of Heinrich Zimmer
edited by Joseph Campbell

• The Art of Indian Asia: Its Mythology and Transformations (1955) (Amazon)

• The King and the Corpse: Tales of the Soul's Conquest of Evil (1948, 1993) (Amazon)

• Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization (1946, 1992) (Amazon)

• Philosophies of India (1951, 1969) (Amazon)

The Eranos Yearbooks
edited by Joseph Campbell

• Spirit and Nature. Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, Vol. 1 (1954, 1972) (Amazon)

• The Mysteries: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 2 (1955) (Amazon)

• Man and Time: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 3 (1957) (Amazon) (Although Out of Print, this title is still listed at Amazon)

• Spiritual Disciplines: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 4 (1960) (Amazon)

• Man and Transformation: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 5 (1964, 1972, 1980) (Amazon) (Although Out of Print, this title is still listed at Amazon)

• The Mystic Vision: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 6 (1968) (Amazon)

Other Works
edited by Joseph Campbell

• The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Padraic Colum (1944, 1974) (Amazon) (Although Out of Print, this title is still listed at Amazon)

• Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti by Maya Deren (1953) (Amazon)

• The Gods of the Greeks by Carl Kerenyi (1951) (Amazon)

• In All Her Names: Explorations of the Feminine in Divinity (1991) (edited with Charles Muses) (Amazon)

• Myth and Ritual in Christianity by Alan W. Watts (1954) (Amazon)

• Myths, Dreams, and Religion: Eleven Visions of Connection (1970, 2nd edition 1988) (Amazon)

• The Portable Arabian Nights (1952) (Amazon) (Although Out of Print, this title is still listed at Amazon)

• The Portable Jung (1971, 1976) (Amazon)

Contents (C) 2006 James Baquet

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