After entering Columbia University in 1921, Campbell continued his studies in languages and literature, and studied anthropology with Franz Boas and philosophy with John Dewey. Campbell was introduced to Eastern religions on a trip to Europe before his college graduation. There he met Jiddu Krishnamurti and read Edwin Arnold's
The Light of Asia, with its translations of Asian religious classics like the Upaniṣads and the life of the Buddha. Both Hinduism and Buddhism were to have a major impact on Campbell's interpretation of myths.
After graduating in 1926 with a master's degree in medieval literature, Campbell lived abroad in Paris and Munich on a two-year traveling fellowship, studying Romance philology and Sanskrit. He was deeply influenced by the contemporary European intellectual scene, and particularly intrigued by the fictional heroes of novelists James Joyce and Thomas Mann, cultural morphologist Adolf Bastian's notion of elementary ideas, ethnologist Leo Frobenius's idea of culture circles, and Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung's theories of dreaming and the unconscious. Jung's theory of collective archetypes and their role in the psychic process of self-integration had a lasting impact on Campbell's thinking.
Scholarly Work
In 1934, Campbell began his teaching career at Sarah Lawrence College, where he was a popular instructor until his retirement in 1972.
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