Alternate cover version of ISBN 10: 0691097437Despite their infinite variety of incident, setting, and costume, the myths of the world offer only a limited number of responses to the riddle of life.In this book Joseph Campbell presents the composite hero. Apollo, the Frog King of the fairy tale, Wotan, the Buddha, and numerous other protagonists of folklore and religion, enact simultaneously the various phases of their common story. The relationship of their timeless symbols to those rediscovered in dream by contemporary depth psychology is taken as a starting point for interpetation. The psychological view is then compared with the words of such spiritual leaders as Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, Loa-tse, and the "Old Men" of Australian tribes. From behind a thousand faces the single hero emerges, archetype of all myth."This handsome volume is an excellent study of the myths of diverse world cultures brought together so that all their similarities are emphasized until they merge into the monomyth... Carefully annotated, impressive, and fascinating reading." - The Virginia Quarterly Review