Creative Mythology

An updated edition of a beloved classic, Creative Mythology tells the inner story of humanity’s entire philosophical, spiritual, and artistic history since the Dark Ages, ultimately positioning each of us as the creator of our own mythology

In this fourth and final volume in The Masks of God series — Joseph Campbell’s major work of comparative mythology — the preeminent mythologist looks at the birth of the modern, individualistic mythology as it developed in Europe beginning in the twelfth century. Tracing the disintegration of orthodox tradition up through the radical art and philosophies of the late twentieth century, Campbell arrives at an astonishing insight: modern humans are the first to witness the creation of myth and position themselves as the center of their own mythology.

Presaging our current era of personal brands, curated feeds, and celebrity influence, he wrote upon completion of this final volume, “[The unity of humanity] has everywhere unfolded in the manner of a single symphony, with its themes announced, developed, amplified and turned about, distorted, reasserted, and today, in a grand fortissimo of all sections sounding together, irresistibly advancing to some kind of mighty climax, out of which the next great movement will emerge.”

Updated with recent findings from archeology, anthropology, and psychology that support his perceptive analysis of human cultural evolution, this new edition of Creative Mythology remains as vital, revelatory, and urgent as the original did upon publication more than half a century ago.