A guide to (most of) his voluminous writings
[This essay was originally posted to YouAreThat.org.]
I have divided Campbell's work into 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!
The categories are:
- Popular works
- Posthumous works
- Essays and Lectures
- Biographical works
- "Magna Opera"
- Edited By Joseph Campbell
- the (posthumous) works of Heinrich Zimmer
- the Eranos Yearbooks
- other edited 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--a great way to learn more about a book, read the Publishers' statements and reader reviews, and perhaps even take "A Look Inside," when available.
Getting to Know Uncle Joe: Popular Works
The following works are in "popular" formats, and cover a wide range of Campbell's ideas.
- Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth with Bill Moyers (1988) (Table of Contents - print) (Table of Contents - video [DVD, VHS] and audio [cassettes, 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 (or watch, or listen to). Spend the extra money for the illustrated edition of the book, 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) (Table of Contents)
- 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?) (Table of Contents)
- 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 (Table of Contents)
- 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) (Table of Contents)
- This very small book covers much of the same material as the two interviews above. Makes a nice stocking-stuffer.
Posthumous Works
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."
I have not yet seen any of the volumes published since 2004; I'll add pages for them when I do.
- Myth and Meaning: Conversations on Mythology and Life (2023) (Table of Contents)
- The Ecstasy of Being: Mythology and Dance (2017) (Table of Contents)
- Romance of the Grail: The Magic and Mystery of Arthurian Myth (2015) (Table of Contents)
- Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine (2013) (Table of Contents)
- Mythic Imagination: Collected Short Fiction of Joseph Campbell (2012) (Table of Contents)
- Mythic Worlds, Modern Words: On the Art of James Joyce (2004) (Table of Contents)
- Myths of Light: Eastern Metaphors of the Eternal (2003) (Table of Contents)
- Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation (2004) (Table of Contents)
- Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor (2001) (Table of Contents)
- The Joseph Campbell Audio Collection (1996) (Vol. 1.Vol. 2.Vol. 3.Vol. 4.Vol. 5.Vol. 6)
Essays and Lectures
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) (Table of Contents)
- The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and as Religion (1986) (Table of Contents)
- The Mythic Dimension: Selected Essays 1959-1987 (1997) (Table of Contents)
- Myths to Live By (1972) (Table of Contents)
- A Skeleton Key to Finnegan's Wake written with Henry Morton Robinson (1944, 2005) (Table of Contents)
- Transformations of Myth through Time (1990) (Table of Contents)
Biographical
Two biographical works, two volumes of Campbell's journals, covering his one-year sojourn in Asia, and one collection of letters.
- Correspondence 1927-1987 (2019, 2020) (Table of Contents)
- A Fire in the Mind: The Life of Joseph Campbell (1991) by Stephen and Robin Larsen (Table of Contents)
- The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work (1990) edited by Phil Cousineau (Table of Contents)
- Baksheesh & Brahman: Asian Journals, India (2002) (Table of Contents)
- Sake & Satori: Asian Journals, Japan (2002) (Table of Contents)
"Magna Opera"
- The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) (Table of Contents)
- Historical Atlas of World Mythology (overview)
- Volume 1: The Way of the Animal Powers (1983)
- Part 1 : Mythologies of the Primitive Hunters and Gatherers (Table of Contents)
- Part 2: Mythologies of the Great Hunt (Table of Contents)
- Volume 2: The Way of the Seeded Earth (1988)
- Part 1: The Sacrifice (Table of Contents)
- Part 2 : Mythologies of the Primitive Planters: The Northern Americas (Table of Contents)
- Part 3: Mythologies of the Primitive Planters: The Middle and Southern Americas (Table of Contents)
- The Masks of God (overview)
- Volume 1: Primitive Mythology (1959) (Table of Contents)
- Volume 2 Oriental Mythology (1962) (Table of Contents)
- Volume 3 Occidental Mythology (1964) (Table of Contents)
- Volume 4 Creative Mythology (1968) (Table of Contents)
- The Mythic Image (1974) (Table of Contents)
Edited by Joseph Campbell
The (Posthumous) Works of Heinrich Zimmer
- The Art of Indian Asia: Its Mythology and Transformations (1955) (Table of Contents)
- The King and the Corpse: Tales of the Soul's Conquest of Evil (1948, 1993) (Table of Contents)
- Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization (1946, 1992) (Table of Contents)
- Philosophies of India (1951, 1969) (Table of Contents)
The Eranos Yearbooks
- Spirit and Nature. Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks, Vol. 1 (1954, 1972) (Table of Contents)
- The Mysteries: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 2 (1955) (Table of Contents)
- Man and Time: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 3 (1957) (Table of Contents)
- Spiritual Disciplines: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 4 (1960) (Table of Contents)
- Man and Transformation: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 5 (1964, 1972, 1980) (Table of Contents)
- The Mystic Vision: Papers from the Eranos Yearbooks: Vol. 6 (1968) (Table of Contents)
Other Works
- The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales by Padraic Colum (1944, 1974) (Table of Contents)
- Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti by Maya Deren (1953) (Table of Contents)
- The Gods of the Greeks by Carl Kerenyi (1951) (Table of Contents)
- In All Her Names: Explorations of the Feminine in Divinity (1991) (edited with Charles Muses) (Table of Contents)
- Myth and Ritual in Christianity by Alan W. Watts (1954) (Table of Contents)
- Myths, Dreams, and Religion: Eleven Visions of Connection (1970, 2nd edition 1988) (Table of Contents)
- The Portable Arabian Nights (1952) (Table of Contents)
- The Portable Jung (1971, 1976) (Table of Contents)
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