Joseph Campbell

The American author and professor Joseph Campbell became particularly renowned for his work in the field of comparative mythology. Born in 1904 in New York, he showed a keen interest in mythology from a young age. He studied at Columbia University and, after completing his master's degree in medieval literature, continued his studies at various universities in Paris and Munich. His first work, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces," published in 1949, was immediately well-received and over time was regarded as a classic. In his study of the "hero's myth," Campbell argued that in myths, the hero's journey follows a consistent pattern, a model that all cultures follow to build their various epics and heroic myths. In this book, he also outlined the fundamental conditions, stages, and outcomes of the archetypal hero's journey. He passed away in 1987. The following year, a series of television interviews he gave to Bill Moyers, presented under the title "The Power of Myth," made his ideas known to millions of people.