The Inner Reaches of Outer Space is een boek uit 1986 van mytholoog Joseph Campbell, het laatste boek dat werd voltooid vóór zijn dood in 1987. Daarin onderzoekt hij de kruispunten van kunst, psychologie en religie, en bespreekt hij de manieren waarop nieuwe mythen worden geboren. Bij het schrijven van het boek maakte Campbell gebruik van transcripties van een reeks lezingen en gesprekken die hij tussen 1981 en 1984 in San Francisco gaf, waaronder legendarische symposia met astronaut Rusty Schweickart en met leden van de Grateful Dead.

Oorspronkelijk gepubliceerd door Alfred van der Mark in 1986, werd het boek opnieuw uitgebracht door Harper & Row in 1988. Met de publicatie van de derde editie door New World Library in 2002 werd The Inner Reaches of Outer Space de tweede titel in het boek van de Joseph Campbell Foundation. Verzamelde werken van Joseph Campbell-serie ( )

Oh woe my disappointment - I thought I had found JC's analysis of Science fiction, but no. The subtitle is a much more accurate description of this book about Religion and Mythology. Still interesting, but nothing said here that wasn't already covered in the Hero of a Thousand Faces. Oh well. Interesting and good addition to comparative Mythology, particularly concerning eastern religion. "the lord of the motivating powers of temporal life, whose names are Karma ("Desire"), Mara ("Death"), and Dharma ("Social Duty")" ( )

Good work but without the context of Campbell's earlier works and a study of Eliade, von Franz and Jung, it will probably fly over most people's heads. Somewhat esoteric, and must be read with a metaphoric and symbolic sensitivity. If you are new to Campbell, don't start here. ( )

Um. . . What?

Mostly a mixture of unfalsifiable woo, a truly atrocious attempt at radical-prehistory-by-insinuation (the evidence adduced is cherry-picked and decontextualized, making for a weak argument that is so reductionistic as to be devoid of any explanatory power whatsoever even were he right in his facts), and a misguided appropriation of relativity-theory; but the first and second chapters have a few redeeming aspects (solid critique of mainstream-religious apologetics, interesting analysis of the basic structure of worldwide religious history).

Also it's repetitive, both in substance and example, which after a while make the arguments begin to seem forced. ( )