{"id":9565,"date":"2025-05-21T20:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T03:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/?page_id=9565"},"modified":"2025-05-21T20:34:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T03:34:16","slug":"joseph-campbell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/background\/friends-influences\/important-people-in-carrolls-life-and-work\/artistic-influences-mentors-supporters\/joseph-campbell\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Campbell"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Joseph<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)<\/strong> was an American writer and scholar who specialized in comparative mythology and religion. When he died he had just completed the PBS documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth<\/em> (1988), which was broadcast originally as a series of conversations between Campbell and Bill Moyers. This documentary series was incredibly influential on Jim Carroll at the time he conceived of the idea of The Petting Zoo<\/a><\/em> and throughout his writing of the novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wikipedia has a nice summary of Campbell’s concept of monomyth<\/a>, which I find to be central in The Petting Zoo<\/em>. Here’s part of the overview:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

As a strong believer in the psychic unity of mankind<\/a> and its poetic<\/a> expression through mythology, Campbell made use of the concept<\/a> to express the idea that the whole of the human race can be seen as engaged in the effort of making the world “transparent to transcendence”<\/em> by showing that underneath the world of phenomena<\/a> lies an eternal source which is constantly pouring its energies into this world of time, suffering, and ultimately death. To achieve this task one needs to speak about things that existed before and beyond words, a seemingly impossible task, the solution to which lies in the metaphors<\/a> found in myths. These metaphors are statements that point beyond themselves into the transcendent<\/a>. The Hero’s Journey was the story of the man or woman who, through great suffering, reached an experience of the eternal source and returned with gifts powerful enough to set their society free.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I will have to check with with NYPL’s Jim Carroll Archive to verify whether or not Carroll had the companion book for the series<\/a>, but I am pretty sure he did. I remember reading it, and I am pretty sure the copy I read was his.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about Joseph Campbell on Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about the PBS documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth<\/em> on Wikipedia<\/a> and PBS<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) was an American writer and scholar who specialized in comparative mythology and religion. When he died he had just completed the PBS documentary Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (1988), which was broadcast originally as a series of conversations between Campbell and Bill Moyers. This documentary series was incredibly influential on … Continue reading Joseph Campbell<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9419,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-9565","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-2uh","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9348,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/background\/friends-influences\/important-people-in-carrolls-life-and-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":9565,"position":0},"title":"Important people in Carroll\u2019s life and work","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 12, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Index: Artistic Influences, Mentors, & Supporters John Ashbery\u00a0|\u00a0Bill Berkson\u00a0|\u00a0Brigid Berlin\u00a0|\u00a0Ted Berrigan\u00a0|\u00a0William S. Burroughs\u00a0| Joseph Campbell | \u00a0Tom Clark\u00a0|\u00a0Kurt Cobain\u00a0|\u00a0Salvador Dali\u00a0|\u00a0Edwin Denby\u00a0|\u00a0Bob Dylan\u00a0|\u00a0Lawrence Ferlenghetti\u00a0|\u00a0Allen Ginsberg\u00a0|\u00a0John Giorno\u00a0|\u00a0Richard Hell\u00a0|\u00a0Lenny Kaye\u00a0|\u00a0Jack Kerouac\u00a0|\u00a0Gerard Malanga\u00a0|\u00a0Ray Manzarek\u00a0|\u00a0Robert Mapplethorpe\u00a0|\u00a0Michael McClure\u00a0|\u00a0Henry Miller\u00a0|\u00a0Paul Morrissey\u00a0|\u00a0Forrest \"Frosty\" Myers\u00a0|\u00a0Phil Ochs\u00a0|\u00a0Frank O'Hara\u00a0|\u00a0Peter Orlovsky\u00a0|\u00a0Lou Reed\u00a0|\u00a0Arthur Rimbaud\u00a0|\u00a0Larry Rivers\u00a0|\u00a0Patti Smith\u00a0|\u00a0Robert Smithson\u00a0|\u00a0Terry Southern\u00a0|\u00a0Velvet Undergound\u00a0|\u00a0Anne Waldman\u00a0|\u00a0Andrea Warhol\u00a0|\u00a0Andy Warhol\u00a0 Index:\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3990,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/academic-studies-of-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":9565,"position":1},"title":"Academic Studies","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Book-length Discussions Cassie Carter, \"Jim Carroll's The Basketball Diaries and Forced Entries.\" 1990. San Diego State U. Master's Thesis.This was the first MA thesis written about Carroll. Jennifer Skye Hunt, \"An Unfinished Heart: Jim Carroll and Ted Berrigan's Collaborations and Mutual Influences.\" 2001. California State University Northridge. 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The Midwest Popular Culture and American Culture Associations' Conference Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio November 15 & 16, 1996 In November 1996, the Jim Carroll scholars of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4339,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/feature-articles\/apollo-on-the-hudson\/","url_meta":{"origin":9565,"position":3},"title":"Apollo on the Hudson","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Interview by Cindy McGlynnEye Weekly 1 February 1996 Musician, poet and basketball diarist Jim Carroll in a thoughtful mood It took my Dionysian inner child a few minutes to stop sulking after former-hustler\/junkielbasketball player Jim Carroll described himself as really, you know, more of an Apollonian when it comes to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4631,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carrolls-films\/","url_meta":{"origin":9565,"position":4},"title":"Jim Carroll’s Films","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Catholic BoyBy The Runnels BrothersWork in Progress: 2022 - Other pertinent details? 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