The Changing Face of the Hero
By Rodney Standen.
147 Pages | First Quest Edition 1987 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606163.
' The concurrent evolution of our story-book heroes and our collective consciousness. '
People need heroes. Heroes are at the heart of our fantasies. But our heroes change with the times. Beginning with Odysseus 2,500 years ago, the author develops his theme on an age to age basis. He demonstrates, that the hero of yesterday, the doer of miracles, has metamorphosed into today's sophistocated James Bond. The engrossing study of man’s collective unconscious, that results from it, is supported with resource material drawn from Carl Jung, James Joyce, Nikos Kasantzakis, Tolstoy, Hesse, Maugham, and others.
From Chapter 13 - 'The Ripeness of Time' (p. 137):
" Were it not for this story and others like it, we could have imagined two vaguely parallel lines and two spirals of dissimilar size, all having as their origin the first Odysseus. One of our parallel lines would contain the 'true-blue' tradition of gentlemen, who always know what is and simply is not done. These heroes neither lie nor cheat nor, so far as we know, womanize. Their faces are unmarked by warts, their minds untroubled by temptation to commit even the most venial of sins. In our cynical age, this line may be somewhat undernourished. But in comic books there will always be a superhero; and in every police station or general hospital, at least one character who is, and forever will be, true blue. "
The Changing Face of the Hero
By Rodney Standen.
147 Pages | First Quest Edition 1987 | Softcover | Quest Books, U.S.A. | ISBN: 0835606163.
‘ The concurrent evolution of our story-book heroes and our collective consciousness. ‘
People need heroes. Heroes are at the heart of our fantasies. But our heroes change with the times. Beginning with Odysseus 2,500 years ago, the author develops his theme on an age to age basis. He demonstrates, that the hero of yesterday, the doer of miracles, has metamorphosed into today’s sophistocated James Bond. The engrossing study of man’s collective unconscious, that results from it, is supported with resource material drawn from Carl Jung, James Joyce, Nikos Kasantzakis, Tolstoy, Hesse, Maugham, and others.
From Chapter 13 – ‘The Ripeness of Time’ (p. 137):
” Were it not for this story and others like it, we could have imagined two vaguely parallel lines and two spirals of dissimilar size, all having as their origin the first Odysseus. One of our parallel lines would contain the ’true-blue’ tradition of gentlemen, who always know what is and simply is not done. These heroes neither lie nor cheat nor, so far as we know, womanize. Their faces are unmarked by warts, their minds untroubled by temptation to commit even the most venial of sins. In our cynical age, this line may be somewhat undernourished. But in comic books there will always be a superhero; and in every police station or general hospital, at least one character who is, and forever will be, true blue. ”