Wednesday 20 July 2011

#40 The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology

Primitive Mythology by Joseph Campbell, 472 pages.

This was a long book on the early societies and the sorts of mythology they created.  I think it could have been several hundred pages shorter, and near the end I started daydreaming as I read.  Sometimes it is really easy to read Campbell, but this book just seemed to drag on a little too much.  But despite that, there were a lot of interesting points mentioned here, especially the contrast between the mythologies created by agricultural and hunter societies.

This book also explored the archetypes between mythologies and these were attributed to infantile impressions every person has, and the type of society they grew up in.

I really do not have much to say on the book, and much prefer A Hero with a Thousand Faces, as it is much more instructive and also shorter.  I may, in the distant future read volume two, but am undecided right now.

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