The Hero With a Thousand FacesThe Hero With a Thousand Faces
is a book (ISBN 0691017840) by mythologist Joseph Campbell
. Originally published in 1949, it has sold nearly one million copies in various editions. It traces the stages of a hero archetype
's journey and transformation through many traditional mythologies of the world. In the process, it uses many of the theories of Carl Jung
, such as the concept of the collective unconscious
The Hero with a Thousand Faces has been cited as an inspiration by many students, filmmakers (most notably George Lucas), novelists, and comic book creators.