Beyond the Hero

From the Publisher Midlife is not a matter of a man''s age but a stage of life. It is a time when the stories that inspired men''s youth -- heroic dreams of finding true love fame or fortune -- come to a close. That finish may be triumphant like making one''s first million dollars. Or it might arrive with failure and crisis -- a painful divorce being downsized at work struggling with a dreadful illness. More often heroic dreams end quietly with an ordinary marriage rather than ecstatic romance; or being promoted at work -- but without $1 million in stock options. When heroic scripts run out what is a man to do? Fairytales provide answers. This may sound unbelievable and even ridiculous because we usually consider fairytales suitable only for children. In just the same way though most of us also thought that myths were merely superstitions -- at least until Joseph Campbell introduced the public to the deep insights contained in these stories. Fairy tales no less than myths convey the wisdom of the ancestors. Both are the genes of human culture and like DNA in chromosomes contain highly compressed information essential to human life. Passed from person to person century to century culture to culture folktales undergo a process akin to natural selection where only the stories with enduring appeal and deep insights survive. Beyond the Hero contains such fairytales and specifically those that focus on men at midlife. Much less familiar than heroic stories these men''s tales offer an astonishing vision of mature manhood based not on the young hero or his older counterpart the patriarch but on the shaman-Trickster. That archetypal paradoxical figure emerges in a man''s darkest hour at midlife to provide spiritual companionship iconoclastic wisdom and unexpected rejuvenation. Personifying communication rather than conquest creativity over control laughter over law the wily shaman-Trickster can be found in cultures around the world. Indeed he