Jennifer S., my good friend, valued colleague, and fellow reader and writer, responded to an item in last week’s newsletter about Joseph Campbell’s concept of “A Hero’s Journey” with this:
I enjoyed encountering the wonderful Joseph Campbell within the virtual pages of your newsletter! Campbell’s work was very eye-opening to me as a young reader, and his books (including _The Power of Myth_, the companion to that wonderful PBS series) greatly inspired me to look at the world in a new (old?) way. I later found out that my Mother-in-Law had had, in her own youth, something of an epiphany around her first encounter with Campbell — proof that I had joined up with the right family!More recently, I have been intrigued by the articulation of Campbell’s theory of narrative by Dan Harmon (best known as a TV scriptwriter). It’s generally called Harmon’s “Story Circle,” and I highly recommend taking a look, as it’s a wonderfully concise and cogent expression of some of the narrative archetypes. I have used Harmon’s circular revision a lot in my own writing; I suppose the visual nature appeals to my particular learning style. Here’s one article about it, but there are many dozens of websites, blogs and videos about it: https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/dan-harmon-the- heros-journey-and-the-circle- theory-of-story-b64bb77d6976
I followed Jennifer’s link and found a short article about Harmon’s work and a terrific video that visualized it. This one I highly recommend, with a large measure of gratitude directed at Jennifer. Many thanks.
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