Synopses & Reviews
Joseph Campbell brought mythology to a mass audience. His bestselling books, including
The Power of Myth and
The Hero with a Thousand Faces, are the rare blockbusters that are also scholarly classics.
While Campbells work reached wide and deep as he covered the worlds great mythological traditions, he never wrote a book on goddesses in world mythology. He did, however, have much to say on the subject. Between 1972 and 1986 he gave over twenty lectures and workshops on goddesses, exploring the figures, functions, symbols, and themes of the feminine divine, following them through their transformations across cultures and epochs.
In this provocative volume, editor Safron Rossia goddess studies scholar, professor of mythology, and curator of collections at Opus Archives, which holds the Joseph Campbell archival manuscript collection and personal librarycollects these lectures for the first time. In them, Campbell traces the evolution of the feminine divine from one Great Goddess to many, from Neolithic Old Europe to the Renaissance. He sheds new light on classical motifs and reveals how the feminine divine symbolizes the archetypal energies of transformation, initiation, and inspiration.
Review
Praise for Joseph Campbell:No one in our centurynot Freud, not Thomas Mann, not Lévi-Strausshas so brought the mythical sense of the world and its eternal figures back into our everyday consciousness.”
James Hillman
Campbell has become the rarest of intellectuals in American life: a serious thinker who has been embraced by the popular culture.”
Newsweek
Synopsis
Joseph Campbell brought mythology to mass audiences, most notably in his conversations with Bill Moyers on PBS. In print and on television, his accessible and conversational tone riveted without dumbing down.” His best-selling books, including The Power of Myth and Hero with a Thousand Faces are the rare blockbusters (well over a million copies sold) that are also scholarly classics. While Campbell covered the mythological waterfront,” he never focused a work on the Goddess. This, however, does not mean he didnt have fresh and exciting things to say. In this provocative volume, he traces the evolution of the Feminine Divine from one Great Goddess to many, from Neolithic Old Europe to the Renaissance. He sheds new light on classical motifs and recognizes what is resonant in our day: that the challenge is to flower as individuals, neither as biological archetypes, nor as personalities imitative of the male.”
About the Author
Joseph Campbell (19041987) is widely credited with bringing mythology to a mass audience. His works, including the four-volume The Masks of God and The Power of Myth (with Bill Moyers), rank among the classics in mythology and literature.
Table of Contents
1. Intro Themes of the Feminine Divine
2. Old Europe Paleolithic, Neolithic, Gimbutas
3. Aegean, Cretan Goddesses
4. Sumerian, Egyptian Goddesses
5. Indian Goddesses Maya (Aesthetics), Shakti
6. Greek Pantheon Aphrodite, Persephone (Indo-European syncretism)
7. Odyssey
8. Labyrinth
9. Mysteries of Transformation Eleusinian, Dionysian, Pietroasa, Gafurius, Orphic
10. Biblical Tradition Old and New Testament, Mary
11. Middle Ages Troubadours and Courtly Love, Arthurian Legends, Agape and Amor
12. Joseph Campbell in Context Second Wave Feminism, Heroine Mythology