The Monomyth Reboot

In this book, Nadia Salem expands the standardized mythic quest of the hero’s journey for storytellers to include the heroine’s journey. By arguing that the former reflects coming of age while the latter coming of middle-age, Salem reveals how both are integral to depictions of fully developed characters.

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In this book, Nadia Salem examines and questions the enduring relevance of the monomyth, or the hero’s journey, for storytellers and their audiences. Created by Joseph Campbell and largely popularized by George Lucas, the hero’s journey has come to define mythic quests for all. However, in recent years, this genderless paradigm has lost its appeal as a repetitive Bildungsroman, and as a result, Salem argues for the inclusion of the heroine’s journey as a Künstlerroman and a voice of alterity. Where the hero’s journey reflects a coming of age, the heroine’s journey reflects a coming of middle age, which are arguably equally necessary for the complete fulfillment of character. Taking a fresh look at the monomyth, Salem analyzes the narratives of Eros and Psyche, Jane Eyre, and The Titanic to argue for an emphasis on the integration of both the hero’s and the heroine’s journeys. Ultimately, this book demonstrates how the monomyth as rebooted turns monomythic mythopoesis into fertile ground for the kinds of epiphanies demanded by transmodernism. Scholars of film studies, communication, composition, and mythology will find this book of particular interest.