Primitive Mythology

Primitive Mythology Joseph Campbell 503pp.

Joseph Campbell’s Primitive Mythology is the first volume in Campbell’s masterwork series, The Masks of God. In this book, Campbell traces the mythogenetic impulse from biological precursors in non-human species up through the stone age, leaving off at the emergence of literate cultures. Campbell focuses on myths and stories, but also brings in archaeological evidence about the earliest humans, discussing the mass interring of kings and their courts, the bear-cult which was predominant in our earliest ancestors, but survives to this day in some regions of the world, and the early distinction in myth and understanding of the world between hunting and planting cultures.

Campbell’s work is fascinating, synthesizing myths and ritual practices from cultures around the globe, he presents the reader with a vivid picture of how humanity developed and used stories to cope with life in our early history. Focusing largely on the myths of American Indians, Africans, and Australian Aborigines, the reader is given an excellent picture of the myths and stories that shaped our earliest understanding of the world. Campbell steps outside of the realm of myth occasionally, largely so that he can talk about the rituals surrounding an individual’s (mostly men’s) transition into adulthood. This exploration of ritual is focused almost exclusively on circumcision. 

It is a shame that The Hero with a Thousand Faces is more present in public familiarity with Campbell’s work than The Masks of God, but this fact opens up to an important caveat. The Hero with a Thousand Faces never steps outside of Campbell’s expertise, it remains strictly focused on aspects of narrative. In The Masks of God, Campbell makes diversions from his analysis of the origin and development of myth into a discussion of religious life in general. It is crucial that, when reading campbell, one maintains a steady focus on myth and only reads Campbell’s elaborations on religious life through the lens of myth. Attempting to understand the wide scope of religious life through the limited information one can glean through texts and stories is a fool’s errand.

Every time I have gone back to read Primitive Mythology, I have enjoyed it more and more. It is a book who’s appeal can only broaden as the reader gains a progressively wider familiarity with stories and texts from around the world. Campbell’s writing is clear and concise, rarely wasting a phrase, but simply pulling the reader happily along as he takes a meandering path through the history of human myth.

Would I recommend Primitive Mythology? Yes, absolutely.

Score: 4.8/5

Would I keep this on my bookshelf? Yes.

-Mr. Cheddar