The authoritative 1890 edition with an introduction by Cairns Craig and Frazer’s own afterword. Published originally in two volumes in 1890, this extraordinary study of primitive myth and magic led Scottish anthropologist J.G. Frazer to identify parallel patterns of ritual, symbols and belief across many centuries and many different cultures. His observations on the mysteries of fertility and death, and the rites of the sacrificial king who must die to save his people, overturned much of contemporary intellectual thinking, not least because of the enlightening or ‘heretical’ parallels it suggested with the Christian religion. Frazer’s elegant and authoritative style, and the breadth of his learning inspired a whole generation of ethnographers and comparative anthropologists, and had a particularly powerful effect on many other thinkers and writers such as Sigmund Freud, D.H. Lawrence, Joyce, Yeats and T.S. Eliot. This definitive volume includes the unabridged original 1890 edition as well as several essays and lectures by Frazer. ‘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

Reproduction of the original: The Golden Bough by James George Frazer

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.

Classic 1890 study of cults, rites, and myths of antiquity helped define terms of social anthropology, influencing generations of thinkers. Abridgment omits footnotes, occasionally condenses text; all main principles remain intact.

His articles on classical and modern Arabic literature have appeared in Spanish, English, Arabic, and Ukrainian.ContentsIntroduction: Reclaiming Arabian MythThe Textual PuzzleThe Thamudic Backdrop to the PuzzleThe First Answer to the Puzzle: The Raid on TabukThe Totem and the TabooPoeticizing the ThamudDemythologizing the ThamudThe ScreamThe Arabian Golden Bough and Kindred Branches: Frazer, Vergil, Homer, and GilgameshConclusion

Frazer, with Freud, Marx, and Jung, is one of the thinkers who have had a deep and pervasive influence on modern literature. One of the great nineteenth-century syntheses, The Golden Bough was the culmination of a century of investigations into myth and ritual. John Vickery locates The Golden Bough in the context of its age and shows how, by gathering up many strands of nineteenth-century thought, it embodied the dominant intellectual tradition shaping the modern spirit. The author's intimate acquaintance with an extraordinary range of modern literature enables him to demonstrate the variety of strategies that poets and novelists have used to assimilate The Golden Bough in their individual attitudes and preoccupations. The remaining chapters of the book are devoted to extended discussions of the intellectual, thematic, and format impact of The Golden Bough on Yeats, Eliot, Lawrence, and Joyce. Originally published in 1973. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In 'The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion' by James George Frazer, the reader is taken on a journey through the origins of religious beliefs and practices across different cultures. Frazer meticulously compares rituals, myths, and customs from various societies, delving into the similarities and differences between them. Written in a scholarly yet accessible style, the book weaves together historical accounts, anthropological studies, and folklore to present a comprehensive study of humanity's spiritual evolution. As a pioneering work in the field of comparative religion, 'The Golden Bough' offers a unique perspective on the universality of certain religious themes and symbols. This masterpiece of comparative mythology remains a crucial text for anyone interested in the intersection of culture, society, and spirituality. James George Frazer, a distinguished anthropologist and folklorist, drew on years of research and fieldwork to compile 'The Golden Bough.' His fascination with ancient rituals and beliefs led him to explore the connections between different cultures and religions. Frazer's expertise in comparative religion shines through in the meticulous analysis and insights presented in the book. For readers seeking a profound understanding of the roots of religious practices and beliefs, 'The Golden Bough' is an essential read. Frazer's meticulous research and engaging writing style make this two-volume study a timeless classic in the field of comparative religion.

For some time I have been preparing a general work on primitive superstition and religion. Among the problems which had attracted my attention was the hitherto unexplained rule of the Arician priesthood; and last spring it happened that in the course of my reading I came across some facts which, combined with others I had noted before, suggested an explanation of the rule in question. As the explanation, if correct, promised to throw light on some obscure features of primitive religion, I resolved to develop it fully, and, detaching it from my general work, to issue it as a separate study. This book is the result. Now that the theory, which necessarily presented itself to me at first in outline, has been worked out in detail, I cannot but feel that in some places I may have pushed it too far. If this should prove to have been the case, I will readily acknowledge and retract my error as soon as it is brought home to me. Meantime my essay may serve its purpose as a first attempt to solve a difficult problem, and to bring a variety of scattered facts into some sort of order and system. A justification is perhaps needed of the length at which I have dwelt upon the popular festivals observed by European peasants in spring, at midsummer, and at harvest. It can hardly be too often repeated, since it is not yet generally recognised, that in spite of their fragmentary character the popular superstitions and customs of the peasantry are by far the fullest and most trustworthy evidence we possess as to the primitive religion of the Aryans. Indeed the primitive Aryan, in all that regards his mental fibre and texture, is not extinct. He is amongst us to this day. The great intellectual and moral forces which have revolutionised the educated world have scarcely affected the peasant. In his inmost beliefs he is what his forefathers were in the days when forest trees still grew and squirrels played on the ground where Rome and London now stand.

The Golden Bough is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by the Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. The book documents and details the similarities among magical and religious beliefs around the globe. Frazer attempted to define the shared elements of religious belief and scientific thought, discussing fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat, and many other symbols and practices whose influences had extended into 20th-century culture. His thesis is that old religions were fertility cults that revolved around the worship and periodic sacrifice of a sacred king. Frazer proposed that mankind progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought. The influence of The Golden Bough on contemporary European literature and thought is substantial.