More than any of Joseph Campbell’s books, Primitive Mythology has felt the whips and scorns of time. Throughout the decades since the book's original 1959 publication, the science on which dates and theories were based has been surpassed by new discoveries and new hypotheses. The book itself remains important and vibrant, but it has become less useful as a reference.
The primary mission of Joseph Campbell Foundation (JCF.org ) is to preserve, protect, and perpetuate the work of Joseph Campbell, and so we began, some years ago, to look at ways that we could bring this first volume of Campbell’s Masks of God series into accord with current scientific theory.
A pair of anthropologists, Sydney Yeager and Andrew Gurevich, undertook to identify those passages where this book needed to be updated, and to give us some sense of the current scientific consensus in each case, as well as to point us toward sources for that consensus. Following their excellent work, we have attempted to fold 2018 science into a 1959 book as seamlessly as possible.
Where we have added notes to document a change or discuss an ongoing debate on a topic, you’ll find them in sidebars marked Editors.* We have transformed a few of Campbell's discursive footnotes into sidebars as well; these have been marked with his name (Joseph Campbell ). Where we have updated accepted dates, species nomenclature, or other simple points of fact that have changed since 1959 (or 1969, when Campbell released the second edition of this book), you will find the text in boldface .
We hope that you will find these changes and additions helpful and informative without intruding too fundamentally on Campbell's argument, which remains sound and compelling.
— David Kudler
Mill Valley, California
April 15, 2018