Selected Letters of Sir J. G. Frazer

by Frazer, J. G.; Ackerman, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780199266968
• ISBN10: 0199266964
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-12-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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 greatwork, 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) torationality 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 of The Golden Boughitself.

Author Biography

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

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Abbreviations	x
General Introduction	1	(16)
Before The Golden Bough, 1875--90	17	(54)
Letters	23	(48)
Anthropology and the Classics, 1890--1900	71	(94)
Letters	80	(85)
The Third Edition, 1901--15	165	(168)
Letters	174	(159)
After The Golden Bough, 1916--31	333	(88)
Letters	341	(80)
Index of Recipients	421	(2)
General Index	423