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Available
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Publication
Mentor / New American Library (1964), Edition: First Printing, Paperback, 832 pages
Description
Frazer's classic "The Golden Bough" may, justifiably, be called the foundation on which modern anthropology is based. Explains the origins of magical & religious thought to a new student of comparative religions, and may be of interest to those studying mythology, supernatural magic, or religion, especially any of the modern neo-pagan religions.
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LibraryThing member keylawk
The Golden Bough was published in England in 1890, eventually expanded to twelve volumes and an Aftermath. This work is an abridgement of these studies in magic and religion.
Frazer, a classicist and anthropologist, links folk customs and institutions from the past to the present. This Edition by
Modern scholarship has indeed surpassed many of Frazer's interpretations. These revisions are summarized in the Editor's Foreword. For example, will we ever know whether the sanctuary at Aricia on the shores of Lake Nemi was a place of fertility rites conducted by the King of the Wood and the nymph Egeria [xvii], or just an asylum for runaway slaves [xiv]. Perhaps it was both.
Frazer, a classicist and anthropologist, links folk customs and institutions from the past to the present. This Edition by
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Theodor H. Gaster provides "additional notes" after Frazer's Notes, on the additional work bearing on his thesis which was not available to him. Gaster, with 27 languages and many studies of comparative religion and ritual origins under his own belt, also provides a brilliant two-page Synopsis [xvii].Modern scholarship has indeed surpassed many of Frazer's interpretations. These revisions are summarized in the Editor's Foreword. For example, will we ever know whether the sanctuary at Aricia on the shores of Lake Nemi was a place of fertility rites conducted by the King of the Wood and the nymph Egeria [xvii], or just an asylum for runaway slaves [xiv]. Perhaps it was both.
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LibraryThing member antiquary
An attempt to salvage Frazxer's useful compilation without his improbable theories.
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Original publication date
1959
ISBN
none