The Golden Bough
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"Frazer's work has epic scale yet mesmerizing fineness of detail. We see the great structures of civilization forming and melting against a background of elemental mystery. The effect is cinematic and sublime." --Camille Paglia
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941) is rightly regarded as one of the founders of modern anthropology. The Golden Bough, his masterpiece, appeared in twelve volumes between 1890 and 1915. This volume is the author's own abridgement of his great work, and was first published in 1922. Remarkable for its vast assembly of facts and its charm of presentation, it offers the thesis that man progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought. It discusses fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat and many other symbols and practices which have influenced a whole generation of 20th century writers, including D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.
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I. Diana and Virbius.-Who does not know Turner's picture of the Golden Bough ? Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I. Diana and Virbius.-Who does not know Turner's picture of the Golden Bough ? Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A seminal work,
By
This review is from: The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Wordsworth Reference) (Paperback)
Mr Casaubon in "Middlemarch" famously is writing "The Key to All Mythologies". His researches become bogged down in an ever-increasing swamp of footnotes, cross-references and card-indexes. After his death, his young widow, who married him in awe of his stupendous scholarship, confirms what she had already begun to suspect; her late husband's work was unpublishable, superceded and fundamentally lacking in real insight.If James Frazer ever read George Eliot's novel, he presumably didn't feel a frisson of recognition. Today's reader might. When Frazer published, his book was considered to be a remarkable acheivement. He synthesised the major European myth cycles and from them extracted an ur-myth, a truth which transcended the boundaries of geography and language. Here was the core myth from which all that now remains has been derived. Unfortunately Frazer's work doesn't stand the test of time; modern ways of looking at anthropology, mythology and pagan religious practice are different, and even the layman can see that in many places Frazer has lopped and hammered his source material to make it fit his thesis. There are great riches here, but one has to shift a lot of paydirt to get to them, and when one has read the book one is, (unless a serious student) unsure what is gold and what dross. The book is immensely long and immensely complex. At times one's head reels trying to keep it all together. Long before you reach the end, you may, like me, have lost track of the beginning. Having said that, some people will still treasure the text; some will even take it all utterly seriously and consider themselves the recipients of a revealed truth. I am not one of them. I found it not dissimilar to "Lord of the Rings"; over-long, turgidly written, the plot too implausible, and none of the characters sympathetic. There is a moral here: if you didn't like "Lord of the Rings" you probably won't like this book. I'm not entirely averse to this kind of thing, mind you; I really enjoyed the equally improbable and far more bonkers The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth
53 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning, essential reading for the spiritual growth of Man!,
By
This review is from: The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Wordsworth Reference) (Paperback)
Get the abridged Oxford World's Classics edition which includes Frazer's original speculation on the wholly ritual, and symbolic, nature of Christ's crucifixion and, overall, you'll digest a book that will speak to you in ways you never imagined a book could. A sweeping account, from the very dawn of recorded history to the relative present, of Mankind's beliefs, traditions and rituals, The Golden Bough propels you from the start into an epic true story of nothing less than Mankind's inexhaustable quest for an understanding of - and union with - the mysterious, divine powers that create and sustain the world's existence.
With this remarkable work, so brilliantly researched and weaved together, we learn that universal themes and common tribal practices have been adopted by Man throughout all of history, and across all the world's diverse cultures, suggesting that we really do operate from a "collective unconsciousness", as Swiss therapist Jung termed it. What is strongly suggested from Frazer's starkly drawn postcards from the past is that the enactment of myth and ritual may actually have a real impact, both esoterically and exoterically, on actual life and nature. It's not all cosmetic or mere superstition. And, indeed, once we re-engage with these universal, deeply rooted ideas, we might even find a registering of their phenomena in our personal and collective psyche. Reading this book for these metaphysical side effects alone is worth the investment! In an ideal, spiritually oriented world, this book would be read in primary schools world-wide as a vital companion to Darwinism, to teach children how modern religion is nothing more than a re-branding of old myths and rituals - with these religions, in turn, being grossly misinterepted as facts instead of symbols, and entrusted to the "teachings" of a corrupt, inept and hopelessly unenlightened church order. The best we can do in the absence of this book being compulsory reading in schools is to get a copy as soon as we hear about it as adults and let Frazer's genius do the rest. What are you waiting for?
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Towering work,
By Spilsbury (UK, Liverpool) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Golden Bough (Paperback)
With an encyclopaedic knowledge, the diverse cultural practices of mans expression of spiritualism are laid out in astounding detail. thousands of Pagan, Christian and other religious customs and practices are described. The symbolism of the Yule log, the significance of the Bull in Greek mythology to its arrival in India as to sacred cow, to its transformation into the Pig by the time it reaches China centuries later! The siginificance of dances, burial customs, birth rites, and just about every conceivable cultural practice are covered in this book.
This is an indispensible guide to any anthropologist living with natives and teasing out abstruse and dying customs. Frazer has covered almost every society, and this book as a source for cross referencing of religious and spiritual cultural practices is unsurpassable by any modern author. A real classic that shows the common origins of man, through the commonality and diversity of his practices.
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