The Magic Mountain

How does literature illuminate the way we live? Maurice Natanson, a prominent champion of phenomenology, draws upon this method's unique power to show how fiction can highlight aspects of experience that are normally left unexamined. By exploring the structure of the everyday world, Natanson reveals the "uncanny" that lies at the core of the ordinary. Phenomenology–which involves the questioning of that which we usually take for granted–is for Natanson the essence of philosophy.

Joseph Campbell, the late mythologist who became a household name among public television viewers in the 1980s, embarked on a series of final lectures for TV audiences before his death. The lectures were filmed and are presented here in the order and manner in which Campbell himself intended, with enhanced images and in minimally-edited form.