Joseph Campbell: His Life, Influences and Ideas

Joseph Campbell, born in New York City on March 26, 1904, was an American writer, professor, and orator best known for his works as a mythologist. Although raised in an upper middle class Roman Catholic family, as a child, Campbell became intrigued by Native American culture when he visited the American Museum of Natural History in New York with his father. He was rather interested in many aspects of Native American society, but particularly its mythology.

At Dartmouth College, he studied biology and mathematics, but then, he transferred to Columbia University to study humanities. He received a degree in English literature in 1925 and another in Medieval literature in 1927. He also was an accomplished athlete, having received awards in track. After college, Joseph Campbell traveled to Europe on a fellowship from Columbia University. While there, he met Jiddu Krishnamurti and became interested in Hindu Philosophy. This occurred during the Lost Generation (the period between the end of World War I into the Great Depression), as intellectual and artistic innovation occurred throughout Europe.

Joseph Campbell continued his education at the University of Paris and the University of Munich, studying Old French and Sanskrit. He spoke French, Sanskrit, German, and Japanese, along with English. He began his literary career by editing papers of indoloist Heinrich Zimmer.

In 1929, after returning from Europe, Joseph Campbell decided that he also wanted to study Sanskrit and modern art, along with medieval literature, and announced this to his faculty at Columbia. Since his advisors were not supportive, however, he chose not to go along with his original plans to earn a doctorate degree, and he never returned to a conventional graduate program.

Over the next five years (1929-1934), Joseph Campbell engaged in independent study in hopes of trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. He became close friends with writer John Steinbeck, and his wife, Carol, when he traveled to California for a year (1931-1932). He also taught at the Canterbury school and attempted publishing works of fiction He discussed this period of his life in the book "The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work" (1990) and along with Phil Cousineau in the documentary "The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell." During this period of his life, Campbell studied the ideas of Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist who had been an assistant of Sigmund Freud. He was also influenced by Wilhelm Stekel (1868-1939), who applied Freud's ideas of dreams, the unconscious, and fantasies of the human mind to other fields, including literature and anthropology.

In 1934, Campbell accepted a position as a professor at Sarah Lawrence College. In 1938, he married Jean Erdman, a former student, and retired from Sarah Lawrence in 1972. He died in Honolulu, Hawaii on October 31, 1987.

II. Influences and Ideas

Joseph Campbell studied the texts of Carl Jung for understanding of psychological phenomenon. Yet he did not agree with Jung on all issues and certainly had his own original voice, such as he did not believe in astrology or synchronicity, like Carl Jung did. He believed that religions were "masks" of the same absolute truth, and his ideas of religion had been compared to Albert Einstein's ideas of science. He was fascinated by what he thought of as universal ideas or truths throughout all different cultures. He wanted to show that all religions, both Eastern and Western, were on the same basic level and that no one is right, yet everyone is searching for the same unknowable answer. His ideas, however, mostly dealt with base level comparisons that contradicted themselves when you study the deeper meanings or compare literal facts within different religions. He also began to look at moral systems adversely and thought they were both incorrect yet necessary. He believed things such as "right" and "wrong" were just concocted ideas.

The first Hollywood film maker to openly credit Campbell as an influence was George Lucas. During the release of the first "Star Wars" film, he stated that the film was based on ideas he found in "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" and other works by Joseph Campbell. Also, "The Power of Myth" was filmed at Lucas' "Skywalker Ranch." In interviews with Bill Moyers, Campbell discussed how Lucas used the ideas to re-invent mythology for current times.

References:

http://www.jcf.org/about_jc.php

"Transformations of Myth Through Time" by Joseph Campbell

"The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell

"A Fire in the Mind: The Life of Joseph Campbell" by Robin Larsen and Stephen Larsen