Campbell, Joseph (1904-1987), was a famous American authority on mythology. Campbell developed the idea that myths provide ways in which all human cultures express their ideas about themselves and about the natural and supernatural forces they cannot control.
Campbell became particularly interested in the myths that tell of an individual, usually a man, who leaves the ordinary world and enters the supernatural world. There he learns of his heroic destiny and receives charms or magical weapons. The man defeats the forces that oppose him and returns with new knowledge and new powers to the society from which he came. Campbell called this story the “monomyth” of the hero, because he found versions of it in nearly every culture.
Campbell wrote many books about mythology, notably the four-volume The Masks of God. It consists of Primitive Mythology (1959), Oriental Mythology (1962), Occidental Mythology (1964), and Creative Mythology (1968). He was born on March 26, 1904, in New York City. He died on Oct. 30, 1987.
See also Mythology (Literary approaches).
