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Joseph Campbell: An introduction
Religion (1989) 19, 293-301
BOOK REVIEWS Robert A . Segal, Joseph Campbell : An Introduction . London, Garland Publishing, 1987, $22 .00 .
New York and
When octogenarian Joseph Campbell died in 1987, he left behind a legacy of myth interpretation spanning more than four decades . A popular American theorist of myth, Campbell was a prolific and ambitious writer who attempted nothing less than a comprehensive interpretation of the themes and structures of world mythology . In his best known book, Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Campbell outlined the fundamental structures of the mythic narrative of heroic quest . His massive four-volume work, The Masks of God (1959-1968), described universal themes and symbols in the mythological traditions of the world . Here he incorporated ancient and primitive mythologies, Eastern and Western mythologies, and the 'creative mythology' embodied in artistic and literary productions of the 20th century . His many other books and articles expanded and illustrated the structural and thematic arguments presented in Hero and Masks . Although Campbell's theory is widely known, a thorough scholarly evaluation of his ideas has not been heretofore attempted . In Joseph Campbell: An Introduction, Robert Segal of Lousiana State University initiates such a project, offering a bookby-book description of Campbell's work and a critical assessment of the theory . This book has much to commend it, for Segal makes three major contributions to scholarship on Campbell . First, he offers a careful analysis of the hermeneutical underpinnings of Campbell's thought, analysing the changing understanding of the meaning, origin, and function of myth in each of Campbell's major texts . Second, he situates Campbell's work within the broad tradition of the comparative study of myth, by means of excellent discussions of the relation of Campbell's theories to those of other interpreters . Third, Segal offers an important critique of Campbell's work, demonstrating major problems both in the theoretical structure and in its application to specific myths . This third contribution, however, leads to the major disappointment of Segal's work-his polemical attack on Campbell's oeuvre . Segal ultimately dismisses Campbell's work on the basis of its theoretical inconsistencies, without considering the legitimacy of shifts in theory during a lengthy writing career . At pains to show that Campbell's argument regarding the meaning, origin and function of myth is not static, Segal offers a comprehensive and sequential survey of Campbell's ideas . He characterizes Campbell as a comparativist or universalist rather than a particularist, and a seeker of the psychological rather than the historical or sociological origins of myth . Segal describes how Campbell posited an 'independent invention' theory of the origins of myth, explaining common mythic themes as products of the human unconscious or the 'psychic unity of mankind' . He shows that Campbell's focus on the psychological meaning of myth in Hero with a Thousand Faces eventually gave way to a focus on the four-fold function of myth (mystical, scientific, sociological, and psychological/metaphysical) in The Masks of God. Segal demonstrates, however, that throughout these shifts Campbell's primary
2 94
Book Reviews
intent remained the same : to show that the central meaning and function of myth is to reveal the existence of a deeper part of the human self, the unconscious, and a deeper aspect of the cosmos, the ultimate unity of all things (pp . I11, 119) . In other instances, as well, Segal offers much needed clarification of key assumptions in Campbell's thought, revealing the shifting paradigms underlying such concepts as matriarchy, symbolism, literalism, historicism and mysticism . In situating Campbell within the tradition of scholarship on myth, Segal's concern is not to trace Campbell's intellectual heritage, but rather to outline similarities and differences in the internal structure and logic of the theories . Malinowski, Bachofen, Tylor, Raglan, Frazer, Rank, Freud, Jung, and others, come under Segal's gaze . In an entire chapter (chapter 11) devoted to the question of Campbell's relation to Jungian theory, Segal convincingly argues that Campbell cannot be considered Jungian despite the face that he adopted a number of Jungian assumptions, concepts, and methods . For example, like Jung, Campbell located the origins of myth in the `archetypes' of the unconscious, and dismissed historical or cultural diffusion as a primary explanation of common mythic patterns . Nevertheless, Campbell differed significantly from Jung in asserting that myths and archetypes are acquired through experience, rather than through an innate inheritance . In his analysis of these issues, Segal penetrates to the underlying logic of Campbell's arguments to show crucial intellectual differences . Segal's critique demonstrates serious problems in the theoretical superstructure and in the application of the theory to specific myths . For example, Segal reveals Campbell's tendency to sever myths from their social context . While he does not object to Campbell's argument that the origins of myth are psychological, he does object to the frequent insistence that sociological factors are insignificant . Moreover, Segal demonstrates that when Campbell ostensibly attended to social and economic factors, he, in fact, ignored them . In The Masks of God : Occidental Mythologies, for example, Campbell ascribed differences between two groups of myths to economics (hunting and planting economies) and gender-based social arrangements (matriarchy and partiarchy), but `he never utiliz(ed) any information about either economics or gender to understand these myths . Rather he inferr(ed) economic and sexual conclusions from the myths themselves' (p . 138) . Similarly, Segal argues convincingly that Campbell stretched myths to fit his theory . A striking example of this is Campbell's reading of Genesis 2-3 . According to Campbell, all Western myths represent a projection into the realm of the gods of a social and political struggle between matriarchy and patriarchy . Thus, Campbell interpreted the narrative of creation and fall as a conflict between male and female deities, i .e . Yahweh and Eve . Campbell argued that Eve's transgression represented a rebellious attempt by a defeated goddess to regain her lost rule ; that `the earth, to which Adam and Eve will . . . be returning at death, symbolizes the mother goddess' (p . 44) ; and that the entire episode expresses the rebellion and victory of the forces of matriarchy . Segal attacks Campbell's `strained . . . interpretation' (p . 44), his understanding of earth and Eve as goddesses, and his apparent belief in an historical period of matriarchy (pp . 39-51) . In addition, he challenges Campbell's tendency to treat isolated mythic themes rather than whole myths, separating myth from plot structure and narrative context (p . 138) . Here and elsewhere, Segal justly objects to Campbell's exegetical violence to the text . In spite of its strengths, Segal's book has some serious limitations . Far from being a non-partisan review of Campbell's work, the book is a hostile polemic against Campbell . This perspective is not initially stated ; rather, it emerges gradually
Book Reviews
29 5
throughout the first few chapters with occasional references to Campbell's 'obsessions', and `stretched analyses', and culminates in a vituperative catalogue of Campbell's faults (pp . 136-140) . Ultimately, however, Segal's major reason for rejecting Campbell is that there are contradictions in the body of the work . Surely, theoretical inconsistencies are to be expected in a four-decade career . Segal allows for no development or change in Campbell's ideas . While Segal attacks Campbell for the ahistorical or anti-historical nature of his theory, he is guilty of a profoundly ahistorical interpretation of Campbell . Jung dealt with changes in his theoretical perspectives by literally revising his earlier books ; Freud reconstituted his argument with each new development . Indeed, like the river of Heraclitus, Campbell's theory is never quite the same in any two encounters . One might investigate intellectual or personal causes for theoretical shifts in a lengthy career, but such shifts are hardly justification for dismissal . If Bultmann pointed toward an existentialist demythologization of mythic narrative, Campbell's call for a `myth to live by' revealed the richness of the realm of myth and its relevance to the contemporary world . In the year of Campbell's death, an assessment of his work and influence is timely and appropriate, but the hold mythographer deserves better treatment than Segal proffers . Segal's book is an important step toward an adequate assessment of Campbell's oeuvre : his precise reading of Campbell's texts and his careful analysis of the theoretical superstructure will be indispensable to future studies, but his polemical dismissal of Campbell limits the usefulness of his book . In concluding his attack, Segal deals what he sees as the final blow : Campbell `repeatedly contradicts himself on the central issues : why myths are the same, whether myths are the same, and what their message is . But these criticisms pale beside the prime one : that Campbell spends too much time reveling in myth and not enough time analyzing it' (p . 140, my emphasis) . Indeed, Campbell may be guilty of this, but Segal's problem is the reverse : he spends too much time analysing his subject, and not enough time revelling in it . DIANE JONTE-PACE Santa Clara L'nirersitr
Lawrence A . Hoffman, Beyond the Text . A Holistic Approach to Liturgy . Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1987, 213 pp . Lawrence Hoffman's Beyond the Text breaks new ground in the study of Jewish liturgy and raises important questions for the study of worship practices in general . Moving beyond the traditions of philological and form critical scholarship that have dominated the study of Jewish liturgy, Hoffman builds bridges between the field of litugical studies and the discipline of anthropology . The turn to anthropology, Hoffman argues, will overcome the literary and textual bias that has operated in earlier approaches to Jewish liturgy, a prejudice that has predisposed earlier interpreters (Zunz, Elbogen, Heinemann) to miss the way that liturgy actually works in communities . To correct for that bias, Hoffman examines the social dimensions of liturgy : its power to shape communal identity, to articulate shared conceptions of reality, to create and express social differentiation between and within social groups, and to capture a sense of the numinous .
BOOK REVIEWS Robert A . Segal, Joseph Campbell : An Introduction . London, Garland Publishing, 1987, $22 .00 .
New York and
When octogenarian Joseph Campbell died in 1987, he left behind a legacy of myth interpretation spanning more than four decades . A popular American theorist of myth, Campbell was a prolific and ambitious writer who attempted nothing less than a comprehensive interpretation of the themes and structures of world mythology . In his best known book, Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Campbell outlined the fundamental structures of the mythic narrative of heroic quest . His massive four-volume work, The Masks of God (1959-1968), described universal themes and symbols in the mythological traditions of the world . Here he incorporated ancient and primitive mythologies, Eastern and Western mythologies, and the 'creative mythology' embodied in artistic and literary productions of the 20th century . His many other books and articles expanded and illustrated the structural and thematic arguments presented in Hero and Masks . Although Campbell's theory is widely known, a thorough scholarly evaluation of his ideas has not been heretofore attempted . In Joseph Campbell: An Introduction, Robert Segal of Lousiana State University initiates such a project, offering a bookby-book description of Campbell's work and a critical assessment of the theory . This book has much to commend it, for Segal makes three major contributions to scholarship on Campbell . First, he offers a careful analysis of the hermeneutical underpinnings of Campbell's thought, analysing the changing understanding of the meaning, origin, and function of myth in each of Campbell's major texts . Second, he situates Campbell's work within the broad tradition of the comparative study of myth, by means of excellent discussions of the relation of Campbell's theories to those of other interpreters . Third, Segal offers an important critique of Campbell's work, demonstrating major problems both in the theoretical structure and in its application to specific myths . This third contribution, however, leads to the major disappointment of Segal's work-his polemical attack on Campbell's oeuvre . Segal ultimately dismisses Campbell's work on the basis of its theoretical inconsistencies, without considering the legitimacy of shifts in theory during a lengthy writing career . At pains to show that Campbell's argument regarding the meaning, origin and function of myth is not static, Segal offers a comprehensive and sequential survey of Campbell's ideas . He characterizes Campbell as a comparativist or universalist rather than a particularist, and a seeker of the psychological rather than the historical or sociological origins of myth . Segal describes how Campbell posited an 'independent invention' theory of the origins of myth, explaining common mythic themes as products of the human unconscious or the 'psychic unity of mankind' . He shows that Campbell's focus on the psychological meaning of myth in Hero with a Thousand Faces eventually gave way to a focus on the four-fold function of myth (mystical, scientific, sociological, and psychological/metaphysical) in The Masks of God. Segal demonstrates, however, that throughout these shifts Campbell's primary
2 94
Book Reviews
intent remained the same : to show that the central meaning and function of myth is to reveal the existence of a deeper part of the human self, the unconscious, and a deeper aspect of the cosmos, the ultimate unity of all things (pp . I11, 119) . In other instances, as well, Segal offers much needed clarification of key assumptions in Campbell's thought, revealing the shifting paradigms underlying such concepts as matriarchy, symbolism, literalism, historicism and mysticism . In situating Campbell within the tradition of scholarship on myth, Segal's concern is not to trace Campbell's intellectual heritage, but rather to outline similarities and differences in the internal structure and logic of the theories . Malinowski, Bachofen, Tylor, Raglan, Frazer, Rank, Freud, Jung, and others, come under Segal's gaze . In an entire chapter (chapter 11) devoted to the question of Campbell's relation to Jungian theory, Segal convincingly argues that Campbell cannot be considered Jungian despite the face that he adopted a number of Jungian assumptions, concepts, and methods . For example, like Jung, Campbell located the origins of myth in the `archetypes' of the unconscious, and dismissed historical or cultural diffusion as a primary explanation of common mythic patterns . Nevertheless, Campbell differed significantly from Jung in asserting that myths and archetypes are acquired through experience, rather than through an innate inheritance . In his analysis of these issues, Segal penetrates to the underlying logic of Campbell's arguments to show crucial intellectual differences . Segal's critique demonstrates serious problems in the theoretical superstructure and in the application of the theory to specific myths . For example, Segal reveals Campbell's tendency to sever myths from their social context . While he does not object to Campbell's argument that the origins of myth are psychological, he does object to the frequent insistence that sociological factors are insignificant . Moreover, Segal demonstrates that when Campbell ostensibly attended to social and economic factors, he, in fact, ignored them . In The Masks of God : Occidental Mythologies, for example, Campbell ascribed differences between two groups of myths to economics (hunting and planting economies) and gender-based social arrangements (matriarchy and partiarchy), but `he never utiliz(ed) any information about either economics or gender to understand these myths . Rather he inferr(ed) economic and sexual conclusions from the myths themselves' (p . 138) . Similarly, Segal argues convincingly that Campbell stretched myths to fit his theory . A striking example of this is Campbell's reading of Genesis 2-3 . According to Campbell, all Western myths represent a projection into the realm of the gods of a social and political struggle between matriarchy and patriarchy . Thus, Campbell interpreted the narrative of creation and fall as a conflict between male and female deities, i .e . Yahweh and Eve . Campbell argued that Eve's transgression represented a rebellious attempt by a defeated goddess to regain her lost rule ; that `the earth, to which Adam and Eve will . . . be returning at death, symbolizes the mother goddess' (p . 44) ; and that the entire episode expresses the rebellion and victory of the forces of matriarchy . Segal attacks Campbell's `strained . . . interpretation' (p . 44), his understanding of earth and Eve as goddesses, and his apparent belief in an historical period of matriarchy (pp . 39-51) . In addition, he challenges Campbell's tendency to treat isolated mythic themes rather than whole myths, separating myth from plot structure and narrative context (p . 138) . Here and elsewhere, Segal justly objects to Campbell's exegetical violence to the text . In spite of its strengths, Segal's book has some serious limitations . Far from being a non-partisan review of Campbell's work, the book is a hostile polemic against Campbell . This perspective is not initially stated ; rather, it emerges gradually
Book Reviews
29 5
throughout the first few chapters with occasional references to Campbell's 'obsessions', and `stretched analyses', and culminates in a vituperative catalogue of Campbell's faults (pp . 136-140) . Ultimately, however, Segal's major reason for rejecting Campbell is that there are contradictions in the body of the work . Surely, theoretical inconsistencies are to be expected in a four-decade career . Segal allows for no development or change in Campbell's ideas . While Segal attacks Campbell for the ahistorical or anti-historical nature of his theory, he is guilty of a profoundly ahistorical interpretation of Campbell . Jung dealt with changes in his theoretical perspectives by literally revising his earlier books ; Freud reconstituted his argument with each new development . Indeed, like the river of Heraclitus, Campbell's theory is never quite the same in any two encounters . One might investigate intellectual or personal causes for theoretical shifts in a lengthy career, but such shifts are hardly justification for dismissal . If Bultmann pointed toward an existentialist demythologization of mythic narrative, Campbell's call for a `myth to live by' revealed the richness of the realm of myth and its relevance to the contemporary world . In the year of Campbell's death, an assessment of his work and influence is timely and appropriate, but the hold mythographer deserves better treatment than Segal proffers . Segal's book is an important step toward an adequate assessment of Campbell's oeuvre : his precise reading of Campbell's texts and his careful analysis of the theoretical superstructure will be indispensable to future studies, but his polemical dismissal of Campbell limits the usefulness of his book . In concluding his attack, Segal deals what he sees as the final blow : Campbell `repeatedly contradicts himself on the central issues : why myths are the same, whether myths are the same, and what their message is . But these criticisms pale beside the prime one : that Campbell spends too much time reveling in myth and not enough time analyzing it' (p . 140, my emphasis) . Indeed, Campbell may be guilty of this, but Segal's problem is the reverse : he spends too much time analysing his subject, and not enough time revelling in it . DIANE JONTE-PACE Santa Clara L'nirersitr
Lawrence A . Hoffman, Beyond the Text . A Holistic Approach to Liturgy . Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1987, 213 pp . Lawrence Hoffman's Beyond the Text breaks new ground in the study of Jewish liturgy and raises important questions for the study of worship practices in general . Moving beyond the traditions of philological and form critical scholarship that have dominated the study of Jewish liturgy, Hoffman builds bridges between the field of litugical studies and the discipline of anthropology . The turn to anthropology, Hoffman argues, will overcome the literary and textual bias that has operated in earlier approaches to Jewish liturgy, a prejudice that has predisposed earlier interpreters (Zunz, Elbogen, Heinemann) to miss the way that liturgy actually works in communities . To correct for that bias, Hoffman examines the social dimensions of liturgy : its power to shape communal identity, to articulate shared conceptions of reality, to create and express social differentiation between and within social groups, and to capture a sense of the numinous .