Ethan Maurice

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Joseph Campbell's Reading List

By Ethan Maurice | November 19, 2020

Joseph Campbell is one of my greatest heroes. His words ring with deep truth in me and my life has been greatly inspired by his.

What so inspires me about Joe is not that he uncovered and popularized the psychologically powerful, universally mythologized cycle of “the hero’s journey,” but that he did so by walking the hero path himself. His ideas are the foundation upon which our modern myths, movies like Star Wars and The Matrix, were deliberately built. His posthumously released six-part PBS interview series with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, remains “one of the most popular series in the history of public television.” The interviews from that series were filled with such deep insight and wisdom that their transcripts were simply printed into one of my all-time favorite books.

As Joseph Campbell’s influence so powerfully poured through our culture, I one day wondered, what particular influences so powerfully poured through him? A few Google searches lead me to the Sarah Lawrence Introduction to Mythology Class Reading List he handed out for thirty-some-odd years, a list not meant to be read in a semester but across a lifetime. Almost unconsciously, I have again and again returned for more reading recommendations. Upon my most recent return I thought, “why haven’t I shared this potent well in which I keep returning to dip?”

So here it is — Joseph Campbell’s recommended reading list — the books that most influenced his influence. Pick one up that stands out, or if you’re wondering why someone would read so many books, grab a copy of The Power of Myth and experience what all that reading amounted to in him.

Joseph Campbell’s Sarah Lawrence Intro to Mythology Class Reading List

*Joseph Campbell studied Russian just to read Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace in the vernacular. Understanding this, I’ve taken great care to find and link his recommended translation of each book above.

**Some of the above links are Amazon affiliate links. If you click a link and buy a book, I will receive a small percentage of its price.

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