[This book] provides [an] answer to the age-old riddle of whether there are only a small number of "basic stories" in the world. Using ... examples, from ancient myths and folk tales, via the plays and novels of great literature to the popular movies and TV soap operas of today, it shows that there are seven archetypal themes which recur throughout every kind of storytelling.-Dust jacket.

Pt. 1: The seven gateways to the underworld. Prologue to part one -- Overcoming the monster -- The monster (II) and the thrilling escape from death -- Rags to riches -- The quest -- Voyage and return -- Comedy -- Comedy (II) : the plot disguised -- Tragedy (I) : the five stages -- Tragedy (II) : the divided self -- Tragedy (III) : the hero as monster -- Rebirth -- The dark power : from shadow into light -- Epilogue to part 1 : the rule of three (the role played in stories by numbers) -- pt. 2: The complete happy ending. Prologue to part two -- The dark figures -- Seeing whole : the feminine and masculine values -- The perfect balance -- The unrealised value -- The archetypal family drama (continued) -- The light figures -- Reaching the goal -- The fatal flaw -- pt. 3: Missing the mark. The ego takes over (I) : enter the dark inversion -- The ego takes over (II) : the dark and sentimental versions -- The ego takes over (III) : quest, voyage and return, comedy -- The ego takes over (IV) : tragedy and rebirth -- Losing the plot : Thomas Hardy, a case history -- Going nowhere : the passive ego : the twentieth-century dead end, from Chekhov to Close encounters -- Why sex and violence? : the active ego : the twentieth-century obsession : from de Sade to The terminator -- Rebellion against "the one" : from Job to Nineteen eighty-four -- The mystery -- The riddle of the sphinx : Oedipus and Hamlet -- pt. 4: Why we tell stories. Telling us who we are : ego versus instinct -- Into the real world : the ruling consciousness -- Of gods and men : reconnecting with "the one" -- The age of Loki : the dismantling of the self -- Epilogue : the light and the shadows on the wall -- Author's personal note -- Glossary of terms.