
There is a general pattern to the hero journey––the quest of the hero into unknown realms, the powers that he meets there and overcomes, the stages of his crises of victory, and his return, then, with some boon that he gained, for the founding of a city, religion, dynasty, or whatnot; or, on the other hand, his failure and destruction.
-- Joseph Campbell
The Mythic Dimension (p. 5)
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The Mythic Dimension: Selected Essays, 1959–1987
These twelve essays explore the topic for which Campbell was best known: the many connections between myth and history, psychology, and everyday life. Drawing from such varied sources as Thomas Mann, the occult, Jungian and Freudian theory, and the Grateful Dead, these dynamic writings elucidate the many ways in which myth touches our lives, our psyches, and our relationship to the world.