Had a little trouble sleeping last night, so I finished Hero with a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell's book on the monomyth. I started reading this after reading The Writer's Journey, by Christopher Vogler (see separate review).
One of the most enjoyable parts of Campbell's book is his retelling of many myths, but the main part of his book concerns the "Hero's Journey" and how the same elements appear in many different tales from different cultures and different eras.
The book also discusses creation myths, or the Cosmogonic Cycle. Not only do different cultures have the same heroes, they share many of the same elements in their creation myths, flood stories, and tales of spiritual leaders.
George Lucas had often said that he was inspired by ideas in this book when he created Star Wars. In fact, the latest edition of the paperback has Luke Skywalker on the cover, along with some ancient art. I've read some of the early treatments of the SW scripts, and the story underwent a lot of changes from a SF version of "Hidden Fortress."
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