Joseph Campbell - Comparative Mythology (E-Single)

ComparativeMythology
as an Introduction toCross-Cultural Studies

with Reading List fromIntroduction to Mythology course

by JosephCampbell

Edited by Antony Van Couvering

THE COLLECTED WORKS OF JOSEPHCAMPBELL

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Originally publishedin The Mythic Dimension

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ComparativeMythology

as an Introduction to Cross-CulturalStudies

Joseph Campbell taught Mythology to studentsat Sarah Lawrence College, just north of New York City, forthirty-eight years. During most of that time, Sarah Lawrenceaccepted only women students; he developed his classes very muchwith these students in mind. Late in his tenure, Campbell made aproposal to use his introductory course as the basis for thethen-new field of cross-cultural studies. The proposal gives awonderful glimpse into Campbells pedagogical philosophy, but alsointo his approach to his chosen field.

Included is one of themost-requested downloads from the Joseph Campbell Foundation'swebsite: the reading list that Campbellused in that Introduction to Mythology course .

These pieces, along withnine other essays ranging in subject from the numerology implicitin the Goddess mythologies to the erotic irony of modern novelistThomas Mann, are included in the collection The Mythic Dimension . This volume was reissued in 2008 by New World Library aspart of the Collected Works of Joseph Campbell series; this article is being published inelectronic form by the Joseph Campbell Foundation.

ComparativeMythology

as an Introduction to Cross-CulturalStudies

Figure 1.1 - Joseph Campbell Teaching

In teaching women, one is confronted withdifferent sets of academic demands from those of men. Whereas mengenerally are preparing for specialized careers, the demands ofwhich determine the order and organization of their studies, womenare comparatively free to follow the lead of their own interests.In a womens college (at least, of the kind in which I have beenteaching), there is, so to say, an open-field situation. We do nothave required courses; nor do we have examinations. On the otherhand, we do have a strict and very demanding system of education bydialogue and discussion. I see every one of my studentsindividually, in conferences, for at least one half-hour everyfortnight. This makes it possible to follow the growth, direction,and dynamics of each students individual development.

The instructor in such a situation has to bewilling not only to give generously of his time but also toparticipate in the students discovery of interestseven to thepoint, on occasion, of abandoning his own academic plans and pointof view. It was in such a fluid environment as this, then, that thecourse which I am going to describe came into beingin relation toa context of interests not primarily academic but experimental.

During my first two or three years, I taughta survey course in comparative literature, but at the close of thesecond year, three students came to me, separately, to ask for acourse in mythology. Apparently my interest in this subject hadbecome more evident in my teaching than I had supposed. I wasexcited by the idea and decided to give three separate coursesoneto eachthe following year, based on three quite different readinglists from three different approaches.

At the end of that year, four students cameto me for such a course. I brought them together in one classroom,basing the readings and approach that year on what I had learnedthe year before. Then the year following, there were seven; andfrom that time on, this course has been both an established part ofour curriculum and one of the great joys of my life. I have givenup teaching anything else, and since about 1939, have been busilytrimming it here, expanding it there, and keeping it up todate.

The departmental organization of SarahLawrence College is somewhat atypical. We do not have strictlyseparated departments. There is a literature and language faculty,which is the group with which I am officially associated. SinceSarah Lawrence students have generally professed great interest inthe arts, we have strong departments in the fields of dance,theater, music, painting, and sculpture. There is, of course, alarge and rather aggressive department in social science, whichincludes, for some reason or other philosophy. Psychology is strongand important at Sarah Lawrenceparticularly in relation to agreatly appreciated nursery school. And finally, there is a facultyof mathematics and natural science.

In describing this course, I shall bedealing with something out of an age that is long past. Myobservations about this courseantecedent and indifferent as it isto all academic departmentalizationmay be of some use after alleven to those faced with the problems of an elaborately structureduniversity.

The course is conducted in lectures. About50 per cent of each students reading is directly related to thetopics of the lectures. Each, however, meets me in conference atleast once a fortnight, and for these meetings she reads accordingto her own special interest in whatever direction she has chosen togo. During the first month or so, about half the class will be at aloss. The other 50 per cent, however, will know very well what theywant to do and will be off with the gun. As the year proceeds, theothers gradually find their bearings.