第9章 Lesson 9 Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell was an American professor, anthropologist, mythologist, and modern day philosopher. He is best known for his elucidation of the "hero's journey". His philosophy can be summed up with this familiar phrase "follow your bliss". And this is what Campbell himself did. His personal interests guided his career path and this enabled him to bring new ideas into the world and offer a new way of looking at ourselves as humans.
Campbell grew up in New York City, and it was here that he often went to the American Museum of Natural History with his father. He read a lot about native American culture and developed a keen interest in their mythology. He also began to see similarities in the stories of various cultures. He first studied biology and math at Dartmouth College, but he soon changed his focus to the humanities at Columbia University. He earned a BA in English Literature in 1925, and an MA in Medieval Literature in 1927. He then moved on to study French, Old French, German, Japanese, and Sanskrit for the purpose of being able to read stories, legends, and fables in their original languages.
Rather than pursuing a PhD, Campbell sequestered himself in a cabin in the forest outside New York City. It was here that he embarked on his quest for "real" education. He read nine hours a day for five years. And it was during this time that he began developing his unique vision of life.
In 1944, Campbell wrote A Skeleton Key to Finnegan's Wake with Henry Morton Robinson. It was from this work that he came up with the term "monomyth". He later developed this term in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces (1949), in which he asserted that all myths follow an archetypal pattern called "the hero's journey". Firstly, the hero receives a "call to adventure" and after initially rejecting it, leaves home on a journey. He is almost always assisted by a spiritual guide who ushers the hero into a new environment, where he must overcome a series of obstacles in order to complete his quest. He then returns home in sort of rebirth, where his new found knowledge benefits his people. Campbell claimed that almost all mythical heroes across history and cultures, follow this same narrative.
Campbell believed that all religions were only masks for a single truth that was ultimately unknowable. And he tried to show that Eastern and Western religions were at their core the same — neither wholly right nor wholly wrong.
I. Word List
elucidation: clarification
sequestered: made oneself alone
obstacles: things that impede ones progress
II. Answer the following questions.
1. Why did Campbell study other languages?
___________________________________________________________.
2. Why did Campbell live alone in the forest?
___________________________________________________________.
3. How do you think Campbell became interested in various cultures?
___________________________________________________________.
4. If you could meet Campbell, what would you ask him?
___________________________________________________________.
5. Do you think Campbell was right that all religions are very similar? Why or why not?
___________________________________________________________.
III. Wrong Sentences—Each sentence contains a mistake. Correct them.
1. Campbell earned an MA in biology.__________
2. Campbell spent a long time watching TV.__________
3. Campbell eventually earned a PhD.__________
4. Campbell learned to read Chinese.__________
5. Campbell thought Eastern and Western religions were totally different. __________
IV. What's the word? Using the clues, write the correct words from the reading.
1. someone who studies human differences: a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
2. began, started: e _ _ _ _ _ _ _
3. unusual: u _ _ _ _ _
4. middle, centre: c _ _ _
5. fully, completely: w _ _ _ _ _