Other editions of book The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion

The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion by Sir James George Frazer. The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (retitled The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion in its second edition) is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. The Golden Bough was first published in two volumes in 1890; in three volumes in 1900; and in twelve volumes in the third edition, published 1906–15. THE PRIMARY aim of this book is to explain the remarkable rule which regulated the succession to the priesthood of Diana at Aricia. When I first set myself to solve the problem more than thirty years ago, I thought that the solution could be propounded very briefly, but I soon found that to render it probable or even intelligible it was necessary to discuss certain more general questions, some of which had hardly been broached before. In successive editions the discussion of these and kindred topics has occupied more and more space, the enquiry has branched out in more and more directions, until the two volumes of the original work have expanded into twelve. Meantime a wish has often been expressed that the book should be issued in a more compendious form. This abridgment is an attempt to meet the wish and thereby to bring the work within the range of a wider circle of readers. While the bulk of the book has been greatly reduced, I have endeavoured to retain its leading principles, together with an amount of evidence sufficient to illustrate them clearly. The language of the original has also for the most part been preserved, though here and there the exposition has been somewhat condensed. In order to keep as much of the text as possible I have sacrificed all the notes, and with them all exact references to my authorities. Readers who desire to ascertain the source of any particular statement must therefore consult the larger work, which is fully documented and provided with a complete bibliography.

The landmark study of world myth and cultureDraws on myths, rituals, totems and taboos of ancient European and primitive cultures throughout the world. The third edition of this monumental study of folklore, magic, and religion was abridged by the authour into this single volume in 1922.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Sir James George Frazer's monumental study of 'magic and religion' is here presented in its 1922 edition, containing all three volumes. From Rome to Egypt to Polynesia, Frazer covered it all. Corn gods, dying gods, to fertility gods; Frazer explored and examined them all, identifying common themes throughout the world. The implications to Christianity were controversial: Either Christianity was myth like these myths, or else Christianity is true in its claim that all men are made in God's image so that no matter how far they fall from the knowledge of God, revealed or otherwise, they cannot but help to act on their created, religious instincts. These questions and more will arise in the mind of the honest seeker of truth through Frazer's thorough and forthright presentations of facts and analysis.

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.

A monumental study of comparative folklore and religion, THE GOLDEN BOUGH was originally published in two volumes in 1890, grew to 12 volumes for the third edition in 1915, then abridged by the author into this one-volume edition in 1922. Drawing on the beliefs and customs of ancient European civilizations and primitive cultures throughout the world, James Frazer's work continues to be an important reference.

A world classic.The Golden Bough describes our ancestors' primitive methods of worship, sex practices, strange rituals and festivals. Disproving the popular thought that primitive life was simple, this monumental survey shows that savage man was enmeshed in a tangle of magic, taboos, and superstitions. Revealed here is the evolution of man from savagery to civilization, from the modification of his weird and often bloodthirsty customs to the entry of lasting moral, ethical, and spiritual values.

The Golden Bough was originally published in two volumes in 1890. The work was then substantially revised and expanded into twelve volumes, with the final volumes issued in 1915. It is truly a dazzling work of scholarship and learning. After reading this seminal work, one might wonder whether there were any indigenous societies past and present that Sir James did not investigate and cast light on. His mastery of this immense storehouse of ethnological data acted as a much needed corrective to the Eurocentric perspective that was the dominant mode of thinking of his time. Using as its starting point the strange career of the priest of the grove of Nemi, sacred to Diana, who succeeded to his position by the murder of his predecessor and who would in turn be murdered by his successor, The Golden Bough explores myth, magic and ritual the world over, showing how the recurrent themes of the dying and resurrected god permeate the mythic landscape and serve as a paradigmatic constituent of the pre-scientific world view. The Golden Bough was immensely influential in the developing fields of anthropology and ethnology. Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown and the Cambridge School all acknowledged their great debt to Frazer. But the work also made its influence felt in wider cultural contexts. It opened pathways in the study of mythology that would be trod upon by Jung, Joseph Campbell, Robert Graves and Levi-Strauss and fired the poetic imaginations of Eliot in The Wasteland, Yeats in Sailing to Byzantium as well as their contemporaries Pound, Lawrence and Auden. The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote so much about it that his commentaries were collected and published in book form. Elegantly written, permeated with wise discernment and a delicate sense of irony, The Golden Bough is entirely modern in its outlook. It is a book to be savored, enjoyed and returned to.