Selected Letters of Sir J. G. Frazer [Hardcover]

This is a fully annotated edition of selected letters by (and in some cases to) Sir J. G. Frazer (1854-1941), the eminent anthropologist, classicist, and historian of religion. Frazer was read by virtually everyone working in those fields in the first third of the twentieth century. His great work,The Golden Bough, offered a grand vision of humanity's mental and spiritual evolution--from vain attempts to compel the gods to do our bidding (which Frazer called magic) through equally vain attempts to propitiate the gods through prayer and sacrifice (his characterization of religion) to rationality and science. His richly varied correspondence with prominent figures such as Edmund Gosse, A. E. Housman, and Bronislaw Malinowski, among others, offers an unparalleled insight into British intellectual life of the time, and also throws light upon the composition ofThe Golden Boughitself.

General Introduction
I. Before The Golden Bough, 1878-90. Letters
II. Anthropology and the Classics, 1890-1900. Letters
III. The Third Editior, 1900-15. Letters
IV. After The Golden Bough, 1916-31. Letters

In this judiciously chosen and meticulously edited collection of Frazer's letters, Ackerman, the author of an excellent 1987 biography of Frazer, has provided us with some of Frazer's most important and revealing correspondence. Ackerman carries off his project with the deceptive ease of one who knows more about Frazer than anyone else alive. Like his earlier biography, this collection will be indispensable resource for students of Frazer for many years to come. --Religion

Robert Ackermanwas formerly Director of Liberal Arts at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia.